Tentative Short-eared Owl. I had a quick look at this bird flying northwest over the Academic Quad and Bob’s Row at dusk. By the time I’d registered what I was looking at, it had already passed over. General impression of shape and size was all owl. Broad winged, with the familiar front-heaviness of an owl and no distinct line between head and neck. Wingbeats were slow, measured, and punctuated with short glides — flight was direct, covering ground, not hunting. The sighting was so brief that I had to piece together much of what I’d seen from what I hadn’t. I didn’t notice a long tail, so not a harrier or an accipiter — shorter than even a buteo’s tail, I think, and not as broad. Likewise, though there appeared to be some light streaking, I didn’t notice any prominent markings on the whitish belly, i.e. no spotted belly band or black belly patch. From below, the bird was strikingly pale. I have seen Barred Owls fly over campus before, but this one did not strike me as a Barred, particularly because of the coloration. I checked the campus sports fields immediately, in case the owl stopped there to hunt, but I wasn’t able to relocate it. I’d bet that, if it was a Short-eared, it was headed towards the farm fields north of campus — in the area of Marston Rd., County Rd., and Oakland Rd.
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Tentative Short-eared Owl. I had a quick look at this bird flying northwest over the Academic Quad and Bob’s Row at dusk. By the time I’d registered what I was looking at, it had already passed over. General impression of shape and size was all owl. Broad winged, with the familiar front-heaviness of an owl and no distinct line between head and neck. Wingbeats were slow, measured, and punctuated with short glides — flight was direct, covering ground, not hunting. The sighting was so brief that I had to piece together much of what I’d seen from what I hadn’t. I didn’t notice a long tail, so not a harrier or an accipiter — shorter than even a buteo’s tail, I think, and not as broad. Likewise, though there appeared to be some light streaking, I didn’t notice any prominent markings on the whitish belly, i.e. no spotted belly band or black belly patch. From below, the bird was strikingly pale. I have seen Barred Owls fly over campus before, but this one did not strike me as a Barred, particularly because of the coloration. I checked the campus sports fields immediately, in case the owl stopped there to hunt, but I wasn’t able to relocate it. I’d bet that, if it was a Short-eared, it was headed towards the farm fields north of campus — in the area of Marston Rd., County Rd., and Oakland Rd.