Snowy Owl + Info on DIA roads

[Chris Rurik]

Hi folks --

What an awesome experience to see the snowy owl yesterday!

As some of you may have heard, a police officer arrived in mid-morning to disperse the crew of birders watching the owl. She was very friendly and showed me a cell phone photo she took of the owl on November 21 (on the other side of the airport -- apparently it moves around a lot). A few things to know based on my conversation with her:

The problem was a big group of cars -- apparently a maintenance truck was forced to drive into a field to get around birders, plus airline pilots get nervous on their approach when they see a group of cars. She said they have had people go out there and fly drones up to try to take pictures of airplanes (!?).

The fields around the airport are owned by DIA, but leased to farmers, so birders should stay on the roads.

Bottom line is that birding the DIA area is fine if it's a small group, you stay on the move, and you stay on the roads.

Also, for all you county listers, the location between 112th and 114th east of Trussville is in Denver County, not Adams.

Thanks,

Chris Rurik

Denver CO