Natural History Journal

Merry Christmas, fellow naturalists and nature lovers, admirers and protectors of all things wild and beautiful! May you find time this Season to enjoy a quiet walk through snowy woods, watch the birds at your backyard feeders and savor the abundance of natural beauty that is found at Christmastime! May you find new ways to connect with loved ones, creation and its Creator, shining Light into the bleakest days of the year! And may you first accept and then share the greatest Gift of all, the Hope and Peace, the Joy and Love that is the only Reason we celebrate Christmas: Jesus, Immanuel, God With Us!

With the sun well below the horizon and the late autumn dusk rapidly falling, the chorus of Great-horned Owl calls rose from the cottonwoods, seeming to emanate from all directions at once.  Surrounded by the hauntingly beautiful sound of owls, we slowly made our way along the road toward home.  We had just left behind a pair of Short-eared Owls , after watching them hunt over the grassland for nearly an hour.  Rounding the bend, I spotted our third owl species of the evening, a small round-headed gnome, hunched in the grasses. Burrowing Owls inhabit grasslands and other open areas across the western United States, where they are found in association with high densities of burrowing animals like ground squirrels and prairie dogs.  Since most Burrowing Owls don't actually excavate their own burrows, they rely on other species to do the bulk of the digging for them.  When moving into an existing burrow, however, the small owls do make some renovations, enlarging openings and maintain

Some birds show astounding site fidelity, the same individuals or populations returning year after year to the same small patch of habitat to breed or overwinter, sometimes even showing up within a few days of the same date every year.  As territorial animals, birds are likely to defend and return to a favorable site that offers the things they need: food, water, shelter, and, seasonally, suitable breeding habitat.   Last year, on our annual day-after-Thanksgiving adventure, Eric and I were privileged enough to watch two Short-eared Owls hunting over the grasslands south of the wetlands at Merced National Wildlife Refuge.  This year, we repeated the outing, spending the day exploring the vast grassland and wetland habitats at San Luis and Merced National Wildlife Refuge.   As the sun began to sink toward the western horizon, we found ourselves along the same stretch of road that we traveled on the same day last year, at the same time of late afternoon. As soon as I pulled over and par