Of interest with today's sighting of a Killington Snowy Owl was its reflexive behavior as it perched at the top of an~ 40 foot Black Spruce.  With wind gusts approaching 20 mph the horizontal arc of sway at the top of the spruce was 3-5 feet during which the vertical displacement was estimated to be about 6-10 inches.  With this constant motion the Snowy Owl compensated for the vertical up and down by raising and lowering its head so that the owl's vertical line of sight remained constant. 



With the wind chill the effective temperature was approaching zero! Bitterly cold!



Cheers, Roy Pilcher





-----Original Message-----

From: do-not-reply <[log in to unmask]>

To: shamwariVT <[log in to unmask]>

Sent: Mon, Dec 30, 2013 2:48 pm

Subject: eBird Report - Killington, Dec 30, 2013





Killington, Rutland, US-VT

Dec 30, 2013 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM

Protocol: Stationary

Comments:     Temperature 20 degrees F.  North wind ~15-20 mph.  Bitterly cold.

1 species



Snowy Owl  1     Single bird.  Photographed, perched precariously on swaying top 

of 40' Black Spruce (?).



View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16129888



This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/vt)