Greetings,

Aaron Milenski, his keen-eyed son Fox and I had a *great *time at Killdeer
Plains yesterday.  Although we struck out on Long Eared and Saw Whet Owls at
all the usual locations (perhaps owing to our lack of experience in looking
for them, though we searched high and low, with and without optics *for a long
time*! :), we had quite a show at day's end---and in very good light,
starting at about 4:30!---with the Short Eareds.  I'm only reporting a dozen
or so, but am fairly confident that the number was closer to 17.  We
concentrated our SEO viewing to the area around the Sportsman's Center and
near the intersection of 108 and 71, the latter being the best spot.  (This
is also where I saw them on a previous visit; so those of you visiting KP
could do worse than to park your car on 71 just east of 108 and sit back and
enjoy the show!---they seem to favor this area.)

Here are the Killdeer-specialty birds---in addition, of course, we had no
shortage of Sparrows and Red Tailed Hawks (etc).  We weren't keeping a
precise count, so I'm erring on the side of under-reporting as indicated.

Ringneck Pheasant (1, *on 75 east of 108*)
Meadowlark (several in a tree, *on 108 south of 75 on the east side*)
Horned Lark (scores, *on roadsides all over*)
Kestrel  (4+, *various locations*)
Bald Eagle (1, mature *on 108 north of 75 on the east side, perched on a
tree---with an un-ID's Buteo!---near the water*)
Rough Legged Hawk (6+, *various locations, light-morph predominant*)
Northern Harrier (4+, *various locations, especially good in the field
behind [south of] the Sportsman's Center*)
Short Eared Owl (12+, *locations described above*)


If any Long-Eared-Owl-locating-experts are planning a visit to KP and want
an extra set of eyes, let me know!  :)  ...I'll bring food!

Best,
Noah Comet  (Cuyahoga County)

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