Snowy owl fascinates birders

HOLDEN – March is the month that owls are the most active and vociferous in this part of Maine. But that doesn’t mean that they are easy to see. Still, the barred owl keeps hooting at the Fields Pond Audubon Center.

After last week’s “Day of No Owls,” birders Jerry Smith and John Wyatt’s luck turned, thanks to advice from the Larrabees of Dexter.

The snowy owl they missed last week had its habits – it tended to be at a certain Corinna farm at 4 p.m. Then and there the birders went, and then and there was the owl, sitting on the barn roof.

They watched and photographed the beautiful white owl for an hour. They saw it catch a rat, which gave out a little scream. The owl had the rat in its talons, but somehow the rat twisted and turned and got away.

After Jerry and John sent photos to other birders by e-mail, more people went to see the owl. Those that went at 4 p.m. usually saw the owl; some who went at other times did not.

I went to see the owl at 4 p.m. with birders Hope Brogunier, D.E. Croall, Joni Dunn and Medea Steinman.

There was the owl on the roof of the barn. We were thrilled to see it turn its head 180 degrees, look at birds high in the sky, look across the cornfields this way and that, look into the grass nearby and look at the trees. It didn’t miss a thing.

We also saw it preen its feathers and yawn. We weren’t bored – we loved every minute of it.

After an hour of watching, it was time to head home. But not yet! Suddenly, the owl was alert, stretching its neck, looking down in some bushes, sticks, rocks and grass. The owl watched, moving its head to one side and the other, higher or lower, always looking into the same shrubby area.

Finally, we saw what the owl was watching. It was a chipmunk – bounding onto a log, scrambling under the grass, sitting on a rock. At all times, it was in dense shrubbery. The owl watched patiently, waiting for the chipmunk to bound into the open.

We were hungry, too. We had waited as long as we could, wondering how this little drama would play itself out. It was getting toward dinnertime. Families were waiting. Finally we left for Bangor. We hoped the owl would get its dinner, but preferably a rat, rather than the chipmunk.