The LONG-EARED OWL continues to roost in peace, as viewed from 124 Simsbury Drive in Ithaca as of midday on Monday.
Let me clarify that the bird is technically just over the fence in our neighbors' yard. At one point, to my considerable alarm, a two-man yard-maintenance crew came and started to mow and weed-whack in the neighbors' yard. One of the guys passed right under the owl's tree on a stand-behind mower; the owl didn't flee, but was definitely a bit agitated. I took it upon myself to exercise some emergency lawnmower diplomacy; the guys were happy to view my photos, stop their work, and take me up on my promise to seek retroactive approval from the neighbors and finish grooming that half of the yard myself later. Here are some photos. Note the largely obscured views. As noted, views of facial disk and eyes are infrequent. https://picasaweb.google.com/114049026073343451957/LongEaredOwl Having actually entered the neighbors' yard too and sought angles around our house, I am convinced that viewing remains best from our back deck, accessed through our house when I'm here to let people in. Open house hours continue now through 1:45 PM, then again from 3 PM to 3:45. I'll post again after 4:30 PM if we are able to host viewers in the late afternoon. Mark Chao -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
