Short-eared Owls at LKNWR today

[rrip...@charter.net]

Long story short....

I saw plenty of Short-eared Owls on the long tour route of Lower Klamath NWR, California side today. Straits Drain Roads, both east and west sides were being plowed, so I don't know of any owls having been seen on that section since the snows buried the roads along there. I surmise that Owls are resorting to using habitat along canals, which exist on Straits Drain, but there are more miles of canals out on the Lower Klamath California side. The weedy fields might have been good, but the snow may have made hunting in that habitat more difficult. Just speculating. The tour route on the California side for Lower Klamath NWR is passable, both plowed, wide, and being travelled upon. 

 

 A  more detailed report below....

first went to Tule Lake, but what I intended to do didn't work out. So, I decided to to go to the Klamath NWR, on the Oregon side initially, to check and see what the area looked like since all of the snow last week. While heading to Straits Drain and near the entrance to the Lower Klamath NWR I saw a few Short-eared Owl, both on posts not far off of the highway, but one was flying. There were numerous Ring-necked Pheasants right along the highway. I have see the pheasants out in the open like that before when there has been deep snow at the refuge. Their cover is "covered". At the end of the day  probably saw about 350-450 pheasants. Someone has started putting out grain on the refuge roads. Hopefully that will get the pheasants off of the highway. The numerous that have been killed are being fed upon mostly by Raven, but there are also some raptors including Red-tailed Hawks and Bald Eagles. The coyotes are interested in the carrion. I was one that was killed on the highway. The threat to wildlife is immense due to the widespread deep snow there. And people are not slowing down at all. I did not see any owls on the roadway. 

Turning onto Straits Drain from Stateline Road, with the plan to head N to the viewing area where Short-eared Owls were mostly being viewed prior to the snows, I could see that the road was recently plowed, but with only one pass, leaving some snow depth still , and only one car width. I could see a grader about two miles up the road. I did not go up that road since I did not want to back up from that distance, and there was not going to be a turn-around location. 

Across the highway was the exit to the Lower Klamath NWR, the part of the tour route that goes along the large row of willows. That road was well traveled, and wide. So I went on the Lower Klamath NWR tour route on the California side. There was a "pothole" in the ice out in the unit off of the tour route. There were about 300 Tundra Swans and about 150 Canada Geese, all with heads tucked  since the temperature was about 8 degrees at that time of the morning today. Getting to Intersection F, I turned right, or South and headed to the SW corner of the "Long" tour route. If I had turned left, the road would have taken me to Intersection A to the east, and from there turned left and head to the Lower Klamath tour route entrance at Stateline Road, or also known as the "Short Tour Route". But at Insection F, I turned South, or right, an was taking the long tour route. I started seeing Short-eared Owls almost immediately. Some were flying, most were on the ground/snow/posts. During the time on the refuge I saw at least 40 Short-eared Owls. Most of the ones on the ground were quite close. Since the tour route is right along major canals, I am sure that good hunting is right along the banks of those canals. I have seen Short-eared Owls patroling canals at night listening for small mammals along their banks. The Owls were spread out and stopped from time to time to look at them on the ground or in flight. I came across a small group of Horned Larks near Intersection A, so getting close to ending the loop, and mixed in with them were two Lapland Longspurs, one of which was a beautiful male in nearly complete breeding plumage. I think it still had some more black on its breast to go before being absolutely in full breeding plumage. Very near the entrance "kiosk" (there used to be a kiosk there, but now I only see the vault restrooms, and maybe the more updated "kiosk" is closer to the restrooms; I can't recall if there is a map under that structure). Anyway, just before reaching the highway I came across six Short-eared Owls in close proximity to each other standing on Rabbitbrush. These details let all of you know what to expect, and that even though the Straits Drain area is currently not passable, the Lower Klamath NWR has very good Short-eared Owl numbers, and may actually be where most of the owls are currently. The roads do have partial to mostly snow packed surface, but daytime sunlight melts the ice and the roads can be muddy. Even if it is muddy, the roads have good bearing strength. They could become rutted if there are many visitors and also driving fast.