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Monday, December 31, 2012 6:05 PM EST

This owl not barred from Connecticut





None of these predators have made a major thrust into our region so far, but a much less conspicuous bird, the barred owl, apparently has. I say apparently, because barred owl movements are hard to detect for a couple of reasons.

First they nest throughout Connecticut, so it's hard to tell where a given individual has originated. Second, they're forest birds that easily disappear into our large woodlands.

Evidence of a movement has accumulated over the last couple of months, mainly through sightings in places, such as metropolitan Boston, where barred owls don't usually occur. Reports logged into eBird have shown Boston sightings up significantly this year.

Some were also found perched in the open during daytime on Connecticut Chrismas Bird Counts or during scouting for the counts. There were 20 reports to eBird from Thanksgiving to Christmas, including birds in downtown New Haven and in Norwalk.

With this in mind, I had one eye on the road shoulder as we drove north on Interstate 91.

Not unexpectedly, I saw a road-killed barred owl as we passed through Rockingham, Vt. This incident alone doesn't prove I'd seen an owl on the move from rodent-poor northern areas, but it was suggestive.

So was a second one we saw on the way home, road-killed on Interstae 91 in Greenfield, Mass.