Roosting Turkey & Life Owl

I decided to get on the road towards Hastings on the off chance I got bumped into viability for the Owl prowl being run by fellow birder Kevin Smith at the Carpenter Nature Center WI Campus. I attended last year, but we didn't get any owls. This year Kevin found Northern Saw-Whet in pre-birding trip scouting.

I didn't get the call, but I made a fun night of it to be sure. At Point Douglas it was pretty tame with just a handful of Common Goldeneye in the remaining open water. From the bridge view point I did spot the single male Wood Duck that has been hanging out between Prescott Marina and the bridge areas. This added another year bird for me before I decided to run down to Chimney Rock SNA.

This site is also another where I had seen Kevin Smith report Eastern Screech-Owl only a week or two prior. The site was inconspicuous, but quickly showed some interesting sandstone formations just off the road. I saw Turkey signs pretty early as they had tread nearly everywhere in this area.

I soon found footsteps and dog prints that led me to believe they were from Kevin and his dog. I followed them a long ways back on the SNA property and eventually ran into a good number (15) of Turkey flying up into the trees to roost for the night. They were causing a pretty good racket and this is the first time I had ever seen this behavior so it was pretty fun.

While I was watching and taking a cell video to show Melissa I heard a monotone call of an Eastern Screech-Owl. This happened maybe 6 times and I tried moving closer to the owl, but never could zero in on him/her. I suspect my tramping around so much was what quieted the bird down. Still a lifer and a great auditory experience.