It was a beautiful day , a day in March that teases you with the spring weather that's on its way. I decided to take a jaunt up to the Braddock bay area to a place called Owl woods. Gas prices are really starting to limit my usual trips but luckily I have a 3 cylinder mitsubishi that gets 41 mpg. But even at that the fact that it was minimally a 25 dollar trip I was hoping it would not be for naught. I pulled into the parking lot and noticed lots of vehicles and saw a photographer walking out of the woods. Any luck? I inquired and he said there are 3 saw whets no long eared but one of the saw whets was out in open area. Well this is a unusual occurrence they usually stay nestled in tight to the trees always hidden by by a million branches with the poorest of filtered light. Walking down the path I bump into a couple from Cortland and we strike up a conversation, they lead me to the 2 most obscured saw whets. I get a few shots on one and decided not to trek through the mud and branches to get poor shots of the other. I head down the path looking for the other one and gave no luck as usual. I circle back and bump into a young gentlemen and he inquires had i seen the one down the path and i ashamedly answer no. He says follow me and i do. He leads me down the path and the bird is in a beautiful spot for pics and I thank him. The beauty of this is everytime I go to owl woods I am unable to locate any birds but through the generosity of other birders I am pointed to the locations. Then when other birders show up I seem like a genius as i point them to the birds that someone has shown me. Just paying it forward!
The northern saw-whet owl is a small owl native to North America. Saw-whet owls are one of the smallest owl species in North America. They can be found in dense thickets, often at eye level, although they can also be found some 20 feet up. Saw-whets are often in danger of being preyed upon by larger owls and raptors. Wikipedia
Wingspan: 45 to 60 cm animaldiversity.org
Mass: 3.6 oz Encyclopedia of Life
Conservation status: Least Concern (Population decreasing) Encyclopedia of Life
Scientific name: Aegolius acadicus
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Phylum: Chordata
