I decided that even with minimal birds moving into the area that I needed a good elevation hike and figured down to the river bottom from the main picnic lot and then a full loop of the back country camping zone would be perfect. As I began the hike I thought to myself that these hikes would be important to try and lock down a couple more owl species in my secret side quest for the year.
That quest being the totally unofficial single year owl species high count. I had already locked in 3 very challenging species in January and February with Short-eared, Long-eared, and Northern Saw-Whet. Amazingly I was short both of the common species for this area in Barred and Great-horned. With nesting and mate selection in full swing by this time I figured this hike would give me a least a shot at one of them, though to be honest I had never had Barred at Afton before.
It was quiet at the park as I made my way to the river bottom on a well packed set of stairs that didn't really present much concern in the way of quality footing. A few small aircraft moved overhead as it seems the St. Croix River valley draws in such craft bouncing between the states. Beyond seeing a person or two gearing up for some x-country ski time at the parking lot I wouldn't see another soul during my entire hike.
Shortly after hitting the lowest point of the trail and crossing the outflow of the partially open trout brook I began to climb back up the hillside towards the campground area. Barely a 100 yards into this as I scanned the trees around me and locked on a ghost of a bird starring boldly at me with inky black eyes. A Barred owl was out early on the hunt for something to eat.
Barred Owl pictures from my 2 encounters with the same bird at the start and end of my hike at Afton State Park. Easily the most cooperative Barred I've had before.
I was surprised at how it only seemed to be casually interested in me moving through it's territory. I snapped a number of pictures that I later realized showed a partially blood stained beak, indicating a meal had occurred at some point not long ago.
This was a great moment as I just stood and watched the owl observe the area around it's perch looking and listening for a wayward mammal. I eventually moved on and made the top of the hill and the relatively open setting of the campground sites. I spent a bit of sky watch time picking up flocks of Canada Geese moving about and at one point I saw a large flock (25+) of American Robins flying into the park from Wisconsin at a pretty high elevation. As I neared the north end of my loop I found a flock of American Crow setting up shop for the night in a stand of trees. The lifted as my footfalls got closer and I saw it to be at least 100 strong. They circled a few times complaining of the interruption and I presume eventually got back to roost.
My climb turned back into long winded descent as I wound my way back down towards the river with light fading fast. I stopped every 100 yards or so to listen to the solitude and hope for some additional owl action. I wasn't disappointed as a Great-Horned Owl let loose a volley of low soft hoots from behind me. Excellent, my 2nd species of the night and 5th this year at the park. My only hope now is that I can be fortunate enough to track down an Eastern Screech at some point this year and make it a solid 6 species.
As I hit bottom again and started making my way past the beach area and back to the climb up to the parking lot I bumped a Barred Owl from the trail edge and it flew forward and perched just over the trail again. I was able to get another series of pictures and confirmed later the same blood stained beak had it as the same Barred I had seen earlier. I figured the Barred and Great-Horned were perhaps a 1/4 mile away from each other at the most.
It was an outstanding late winter hike with temps in the low 40's and dipping to the mid 30's by the time I was done. So nice to be able to hike without a dozen thermal layers on and being able to go without gloves for much of the circuit even.
My follow up day on Wednesday had me on another trail circuit attempting an older spot known for Eastern Screech, but I didn't see anything of the sort as I spent a fair amount of time looking for potential tree cavities. This location is in the shadow of Afton Alps ski slope and I suspect if it does host a regular owl, that most likely this space is filled during migration as opposed to being an overwinter location. Time will tell as I'm sure I will grab several more attempts at this location in the future.
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