January 4 - Meadowlands Owls

This evening I went to the Richard W. DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst to look for the Short-Eared Owls that has been sen here for a few weeks now.  About 4:30 pm the first of these Owls was seen.  Later we saw a second Owl as well.  Here's a picture by friend Kevin Watson that shows the beauty of these birds.

Credit:  Kevin Watson


Surprisingly we also had a Barn Owl that took a long flight very close to us.  When I saw the completely white underwings I knew this was a different species, and then I saw the heart-shaped facial disk that's characteristic of this species.

Credit: Ashok Khosla


Earlier on the drive in I had seen a light morph of the Rough-Legged Hawk