Friday, May 18, 2007
They don't know why you're here. What they do know is you don't have any real baggage and you're wandering around aimlessly - a dangerous no-no in these post-9/11 times. Besides, they'd never believe you anyway.
"Um, yeah, Mr. Protector From Terrorist Attacks. I'm actually looking for owls."
"Who?"
"Yeah, funny. Anyway, I'm looking for a pair of owls that live here at the airport."
Cue the Law & Order dum-dum. Cut to arraignment hearing.
Except it doesn't turn out like that. Turns out people at the airport not only know about the pair of great horned owls living in top spires of the northernmost end of the white tents, they love them. They're minor celebrities here - so much so that they even grace the current cover of the employee directory. They're unofficial mascots of the airport.
"I've seen them," a security official confided as a woman whipped open the guide to show the owls right there on the directory cover. All of this was double top-secret since they weren't allowed to talk to the media - even if the subject was as innocuous as nocturnal raptors.
But the owls haven't been seen in a while - and that's the cause of some serious chatter among those working here.
Nancy Kaufman, one of the DIA ambassadors who help travelers, last saw them about a week ago. Another ambassador, seeing two people looking up into the spire, does what comes naturally to a cluster of human beings looking up - he looks up, too.
A guy in a suit notices the small crowd gathering and immediately knows it's owl buzz brewing. He's paid to notice such things. "I'm with the feds," he said, before offering that he saw one of the owls about three days ago. He vanishes into the flow of people as if he were never there. His information, however, is a relief to Kaufman. She said she was worried the owls had left.
She goes to the southern end of the main concourse to see if they're hanging out there. They're not.
"A wild goose chase," she said. Right sentiment, wrong bird.
With more wandering, maybe the owls will offer a glimpse. Since owls are nocturnal, it would figure they'd be snoozing up in the nest waiting for sundown. Sometimes, they're spotted by people traveling along the bridge early in the day on Concourse A.
That's when Jesse Hebisen last saw them. The Bose stereo salesman said he's seen one of them about 10 times. His boss, standing next to him, laughed.
"Wow, it's a $4 billion nest," Larry Manzi said. "One of the higher-priced owl nests."
It's also one of the better dining areas.
Kendra Cross, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said there are plenty of pigeons and rabbits for the owls - a fact that troubles her because of what happened in December 2006.
She said an owl got caught in a United Airlines jet engine, causing $50,000 in damage. Cross hopes that doesn't happen with this pair, which have called the DIA tent area home for a decade. Cross wouldn't mind if they moved on - both for the owls' sake and for the airlines, as well.
Except they don't seem to be in a hurry to leave. Judy Zitzer, a bartender at the airport, has not only seen them, but points to an area of white-stained concrete below their usual perch.
"The evidence," she said simply.
Great horned owls
• Height: 18-25 inches
• Weight: 32-88 ounces
• Wingspan: 40-57 inches
• Diet: Mostly rodents, small mammals and birds. The pair at DIA feast mostly on pigeons and rabbits.
• Sleeping patterns: Nocturnal, do most hunting at night.
• Home: The owls don't usually make their own nests. They take over another bird's nest, use buildings or even have nests on the ground.
• Offspring: Usually two eggs but can have as many as five. The DIA duo have been there for about 10 years. There's disagreement about whether they've hatched any little ones; a wildlife biologist says she's not aware of any.Source: Cornell Lab Of Orinthology And U.S. Dept. Of Agriculture