By Esteban Fernandez, Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Typically at this time of year, amateur ornithologist Joey Herron catches between 7 and 15 Saw-Whet Owls up at Valley Falls State Park. However, unseasonably warm weather has delayed their migration, and the nets he and his apprentice Joe Hildreth have set up catch next to nothing.
It’s an exercise in patience for the 40 or so people who gathered behind the park on Friday night in the hopes of seeing an owl.
While Herron gives his presentation on the owl and its habits, Hildreth checks the fine mist nets they have out in the forest for any owls that may have flown into the net. A speaker plays an owl call on a loop. There’s almost no light, and the moon won’t come up for several more hours. Hildreth has to rely on his head mounted flashlight to see where he’s going. A gentle breeze from the south billows the net out, but no owls.
One family drove three and a half hours from Mingo County to be there, a husband and wife and four girls. One of them was an owl nut, Herron said. The family had plans to visit last year, but the weather canceled those plans. And now, it looked like Friday night was going to be a bust as well. Hildreth checked the nets every 30 minutes, starting at 7:15 and came up empty each time.
At 11:45, it was time for one last check and then pack up. Everyone but the family and two others had left by now. Herron took the girls with him to show them how the nets work while Hildreth split off to check the second net on his own. He returned with a surprise.
