It was eating "rats". Plenty of them in DC   ;-)


Rick Sussman
Woodbine,MD


-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Hanfman <>
To: MDOSPREY <>
Sent: Wed, Dec 14, 2011 8:01 pm
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] possible Snowy Owl near Mt. Vernon


George,
n the late 70's there was a Snowy Owl in DC that perched on the edge of the 
oof of the Rayburn House Office Building. I watched it fly across Independence 
ve and perch on top of a tree on the grounds of the US Capitol.
oe Hanfman
olumbia, Md
oe Hanfman Columbia, MD
-----Original Message-----
rom:         "George M. Jett" <>
ender:       Maryland Birds & Birding <>
ate:         Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:52:58 
o: <>
eply-To:     "George M. Jett" <>
ubject: Re: [MDOSPREY] possible Snowy Owl near Mt. Vernon
Folks
I've never seen a Snowy Owl in a tree.  I don't know that they would know 
hat a tree is.  They are ground nesters since there are no trees in the 
rtic.  All that I have seen were on roof tops or on the ground.  Hopefully 
t will prove true and fly over to the good state of Maryland.
George

ww.georgejett.net
----Original Message----- 
rom: Jeff Shenot
ent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 2:28 PM
o: 
ubject: Re: [MDOSPREY] possible Snowy Owl near Mt. Vernon
Seems like would be kind of hard to mis-id a Snowy Owl even for a 
on-birder; I know some strange lighting can make it hard sometimes, but I 
m guessing if the observer thought it might be one that it most likely was. 
his location (in VA) is directly across from Piscataway Park in PG County 
and visible from either the new boardwalk there, or from the fishing pier 
t Colonial Farm Park - which is accessed from a different parking area). 
his park could be a potentially good area for drawing the attention of a 
nowy if it was traveling along the river, since it has some nice big open 
ields and generally does not have much disturbance.  Myself and several 
ther birders have recently been looking there for a Northern Shrike 
eported at Piscataway near the boardwalk (reported on eBird, not MDOsprey, 
bout ten days ago; to my knowledge the shrike has not been seen by anyone 
ther than the original observer).
Its about a mile across the river, and if the Snowy flew to the MD shore 
here are several natural areas directly across the river from the VA 
ocation.  In addition to the 2 above-mentioned areas at Piscataway, there 
s also a large open area of semi-public land (known as Hard Bargain Farm), 
hich is cooperatively managed between the NPS and private landowners.  This 
rea is not open to the public but I think it may be accessed publicly if 
ou get permission first, and can be easily reached from the boardwalk at 
iscataway by continuing east past the end of the boardwalk.  There are 
arge open ag fields there which can be viewed while walking along the 
iver.  It is about a half mile walk from the parking area to these fields.
It is about time for a Snowy in MD now, they seem to be popping up widely 
lsewhere now.
Jeff Shenot
room MD
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