Long-eared Owl

Yesterday a friend and I were on our way back from looking for Snowy Owls in the Shiawassee NWR and we decided to make a drive through the Maple River SGA. Just can not pass by Maple River SGA without taking a look around. Especially this time of year when all of the different raptors are showing up. Typically there are Kestrels, Northern Shrike, and occasional Merlin, Northern Harriers, Red tailed Hawks and maybe if your lucky a Golden Eagle or uncommon Owl. Well today we were lucky. There is a group of pine trees that we go by time after time and my friend always says "someday I'm going to find an owl in there". Today when we went by the pines there were about a dozen Bluejays raising a raucous. Quite often when Bluejays or Crows or even Chickadees are being very loud it means that they have found a raptor and are dive bombing it to try and chase it away. We stopped the car and began to search the pines to see what the Bluejays were bothering. It wasn't long before I herd my friend say in a low excited voice "Jim I've got a Long-eared Owl". Here is a pic of the very unusual Long-eared Owl. What a great ending to a very good day outside!

Long-eared Owl