Article Contributed on: 5/5/2009 2:19:35 PM
"I wonder what type of fluffy bird is at the nest at 120th Avenue and Federal Boulevard. I was curious because there were so many cars that pulled off the road."
Anna May Fehr
I asked Officer
Harmon with the Westminster Police Department's Animal Management division about the owls on the southwest corner of Federal Boulevard and 120th Avenue in Westminster.
He said, about a month ago, the Animal Management division discovered a Great Horned Owl in a tree nest and so did drivers traveling northbound along Federal Boulevard between 119th and 120th avenues.
Motorists have been pulling alongside the road for at least the past two weeks to get a glimpse of whatever was in the nest, said Harmon, who has been fielding calls during that time from drivers wondering what's going on.
About two or three weeks ago, a baby owl was spotted in the nest and a third owl also has been spotted, Harmon said.
Before the baby owl was hatched, misinformation spread that it was actually a Bald Eagle's nest, causing more drivers to pull over, creating a hazard to other drivers and onlookers, Harmon said.
Because of all the interest, cones were set up along the roadway to prohibit drivers from pulling over along the shoulder and an electronic sign was set up that reads, "Do not disturb. Stay out."
Harmon said people are welcome to park their cars in a nearby neighborhood and walk along the sidewalk, remaining a few hundred feet away from the nest, and use binoculars to view the birds.
If the mother owl feels threatened, she could potentially abandon her baby, which is why officials are asking people to keep a safe distance from the birds, Harmon said.
Animal management officers, whose primary concern is for the safety of the animal, have periodically been giving impromptu bird lessons to onlookers when they are dispatched by concerned motorists.
"They are going what owls do," Harmon said. "They rear their young and want to stay secluded."
He said Great Horned owls are abundant in the Denver area. Once the birds' are done nesting, mother and baby will move on and they probably will not return to the same location, Harmon said.
The mother owl has periodically left the nest in search of food. Harmon couldn't give his first name because its standard protocol for officers not to give that information.
Harmon said the rapture nest has been at that location since he's been with the department, which is 10 years.
"(The owls) really do offer people a glimpse into the ruralness of the suburbs ... For people that's exciting anytime you see anything deemed officially as wildlife, by human nature that intrigues us," he added.
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