Outdoor Ontario
Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: Rotarran on December 26, 2013, 01:03:45 AM
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My friends and I decided to check out the Christmas lights at Downsview Park today at 9pm. And while we greatly enjoyed the set-up, we ran across an unexpected surprise: a Long-Eared Owl. I guess I should not have said unexpected as it has been spotted there before and one could expect to see them being active at night.
We first noticed it flying around looking for a meal. Our vision was greatly aided by the plentiful lighting in the park, the snow on the ground helping reflect some of that light and the bright overcast sky also helping brighten things up in the park. In flight it could easily have been the Short Eared Owl but seeing how the SE is diurnal, it was more likely to be an LE.
Nevertheless, the clincher came when I later spotted it in a tree near the walking path. It allowed us to get quite close which is when I noticed its long ear-tufts and overall size matching that of an Long-Eared Owl (bigger than Eastern Screech Owl and smaller than Great Horned Owl - the only other two possible candidates with noticeable ear tufts).
It was fun spotting an elusive bird at an interesting time of the night. A nice birding Christmas gift from Santa. :)