MDI Snowy Owl

[ri...@thenaturalhistorycenter.com]

I hiked up Acadia National Park’s Sargent Mountain today. Winds were so strong I only heard a few chickadees, but I accomplished my mission: I found the annual Snowy Owl hunkered down above treeline.

 

 

Richard MacDonald

The Natural History Center

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[Down East Nature Tours]

Rich,

 

Glad someone finally made it up to the top of the mountains.  That was a major commitment and this time of year a risky climb...especially by yourself.    Thank you for for reporting Snowy Owl.

I have been out with a respiratory issue but have looked up there a few time thinking about going.  I typically go up the south ridge of Cadillac Mountain.   The “Annual Snowy Owl” is probably not the only Snowy Owl.  There were some good reports from Town Hill during deep winter January of a bird seen on the Gilbert Farm and I found a white feather that appeared to be a Snowy Owl feather out on Kings Creek or Northeast Creek  when I skated out there during our coldest January days. 

 

Another Town Hill Snowy Owl was reported by my neighbors 14 year old who was walking through our woods behind Three Pines Bird Sanctuary in Town Hill.  This bird was reported as a” large white Owl....swooping through the woods”.....  Colby was pretty lite up about seeing this Artic Owl.  The mountains on MDI are visited by many Snowy Owls  but it takes people and a concerted effort to go, search for them and then report them...  You recently received a little PR with the Snowy Owl Story that Catherine Smith wrote in the Friends of Acadia Journal.    Too bad she forgot that there are others that have some great stories about SNOW that were also individual efforts during the winter. Birds of a feather stick together.  

 

If other birders are planning a trip up Sargent or Cadillac Mountains remember that this climb is a semi-technical climb during the winter months on MDI and they should never be undertaken with out plenty of thought,  common sense,  extra food and water and a form of communication.  It may sound easy when one reports a SNOW but there are numerous hazards, one of which is black ice and hidden crevasses which can cause the kind of injuries a recent hiker had.   “Garrrison Keillor likes to think that Lake Wobegon is a place “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” If you make a mistake searching for SNOW  on Sargent Mountain you end up like this person wishing he had a tracfone that worked http://fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=79789%3Astranded-hiker-rescued-off-cadillac-mountain&Itemid=938... this guy was some lucky.

 

Be safe while searching for the rarer birds of the world... with two kids I think about that every now and then.... but  I would have gone with you had you asked.  

 

Michael

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Subject: [Maine-birds] MDI Snowy Owl

 

I hiked up Acadia National Park’s Sargent Mountain today. Winds were so strong I only heard a few chickadees, but I accomplished my mission: I found the annual Snowy Owl hunkered down above treeline.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Michael J. Good, MS
President Down East Nature Tours
Founder and Director Research and Development
14th Acadia Birding Festival, May 30-June 2 2013
Co-founder Penobscot Watershed Eco Center
39 COTTAGE STREET
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
207-288-8128 / 207-479-4256

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