kbarker@reed.UUCP (Keith Barker) (04/23/91)
Last night, as I was walking home from class here in Portland, I was surprised by the flight of a small owl over my head. The owl landed in a tree just ahead of me, and sat there in the semi- darkness. Being the curious fellow that I am, I walked slowly up the the creature and tried to see what species it might have been. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a very good look at it, and I'm not very good with owl identification in the first place. Here is a summary of identifiers I compiled: 1) approximately the size of a rock dove 2) flew with fairly "leisurely" flaps of the wings 3) some white on the upper breast, and possibly the forehead 4) generally brownish, with some streaking apparent on the lower breast Apparently, a pair of these owls are nesting in a Wood Duck nesting box set up in the game preserve which runs through the center of our campus. The habitat is primarily bigleaf maple with a stand of Douglas first right above the nest box. By range and size, I've narrowed it down to Western Screech, Northern Pygmy, and Northern Saw-whet owls. Could anyone possibly help me to determine what species I might have seen? -- Keith Barker Reed College Box #310 kbarker@reed.edu 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. Portland OR 97202