First found on August 27, 2007, this bird was a first North American record.
At 4:30PM I arrived at the northernmost set of crab pots next to the salt lagoon. My usual method for birding this area is to systematically walk up and down each row of pots waiting for something to flush or call. Most of the time the sole inhabitant of the pots are the local Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches. Today there was a higher number than usual, so I sat for a while and duplicated their calls with some scattered pishing to get them interested in my whereabouts. When no other birds showed up I ventured to the other stack of pots closest to the gas station. Again, up and down each row, calling and pishing. When I was squeezing through some closely situated rows or pots, a large bird flushed about 5 feet from my head, flew away down the corridor, and alighted on a piece of trash at the end.
As the bird took off I noticed a flight which closely resembled an accipiter...2 quick flaps and a glide on slightly arched wings. When it swooped to perch, it spread its wings and tail wide, which also gave me the impression of a young accipiter. The tail and wings were brown with darker barring running the length of the wings and through the width of the tail. I was fully anticipating some weird Eurasian accipiter until it perched, turned and looked at me with it's HUGE intimidating yellow eyes. Now this bird was looking more like an owl. The eyes were positioned closely together on the front of its head and appeared very wary, looking around at where to fly next. This bird resembled an owl at this point, however it was lacking two features I would usually associate with an owl of its size to be expected in this region. It had no clearly evident 'ears' and didn't appear to have any visible facial disk. The coloration was solid chocolate brown throughout the entire head and back region. Its chest and belly were a pale cream color with chocolatey streaks throughout.
The first words out of my mouth were "OH S*#T". This phrase was repeated over and over as I ran back to the van to get the camera in hopes it hadn't taken off. Upon arriving back at the location the bird was missing, so I started hopping from row to row cautiously peering around corners to get another glimpse of this (at this point) mystery bird. By now the ever so abundant breeding rosy-finches helped me out big time. Several of them had noticed this odd visitor swooping in and out of their crab pots and decided instinctively to scold and mob it. I followed the sound and lo and behold, the owl was sitting 10 feet under two very agitated adult rosy-finches trying its hardest to blend in with the rusty crab pots. I was able to grab a couple quick photos and quickly jumped in the van to go alert the tour group that was on the island.
I'm glad the local police didn't have a speed trap set up on the road to the southwestern portion of the island this day. Although extremely beat up, rattley, and seemingly shockless, the St. Paul tour vans handle quite well! A short 5 (usually 10) minute drive to Zapadni beach produced the tour guide on duty, Dylan, and the rest of the tour group on the island. I pulled up next to him and said "can you say MEGA?. I don't know what this bird is but it looked like a cross between an accipiter and an owl. I've never seen this in any field guides!" He rallied the troops and we all made it back to the crab pots around 5:00PM. We were able to obtain more pictures before the bird was flushed up and over Black Diamond Hill.
In the evening at 10:00PM the fish & wildlife representatives on the island and tour guides tried to relocate the bird and were successful. It decided to roost in a spot near where it was originally located.
Just another day of birding on St. Paul Island...
Email me if you have any questions about this bird. Pretty exciting bird!
Cheers,
Jake Mohlmann
mohlmann2@yahoo.com
