Snowy Night
Finally, a heart beatby Dan Hartman
April 1, 2014
The recent wintery weather has hampered my owl listenings, especially the windy evenings. So when I stepped out a couple of nights ago and realized the wind had grown silent, I called to Cindy, "let's go"!By the time we reached Pebble Creek a half hour later, snowflakes were drifting down, letting us know a new storm was on it's way.
We heard nothing at Pebble and had the same results at the Thunderer and Ice Box. Lower Barronette and Upper Barronette yielded the same silence. The wind was picking up now and the snow was increasing. We traveled on to the State Line and climbed out of the car. Here the wind was minimal with light snow.
Off to the northwest a boreals song drifted out of the darkness. "I got one!" I whispered to Cindy. She had been turned the other way and had missed it. "Where?" I pointed to the dark forest. "Not far, maybe he'll call again."
At that moment the storm hit. Gusty wind and heavy snow made listening impossible. But I finally heard one! Hopefully this is something to build on.
We drove back to the cabin. The last three listening posts were passed by as I was having trouble finding the road in the storm. The snow continued through the night dumping nine more inches on top of our already buried landscape. By morning our snow stake read 54 inches on the level.
