Following Robyn's report of the return of her screechie, I was pleased to see for the 2nd time in a month, an owl sunning itself in my box, here in S Lansing.
Just shy of a month ago (9/23), I spotted an owl one afternoon, but without my binocs, and because the box faces East and this was 4pm, I wasn't sure of the color, but thought it was Grey morph. By the time I got back from the house with binocs, it had disappeared and was not seen there since, though we heard 2 owls calling many evenings or early mornings in the interim. They would appear to pass through, maybe moving through a territory; 2 would counter call several times over 1-2 minutes: you could hear them farther away, then in our woods, then moving along in the same direction then out of earshot. Sometimes at dusk, occasionally closer to midnight, a couple times at dawn (I'm a light sleeper and they seem to invariably wake me up). However, this sunny AM in full sun and with binocs at hand, I saw a Grey morph EASTERN SCREECH-OWL in the box, eyes closed and seemingly unperturbed by the dog and me. However, once again, this bird seems somewhat more skittish about my presence, or is camera shy, because it disappeared in the 2 mins it took to get back with camera. Hopeful this is the start of a nest! Yesterday, I had one of those 'bird piñata' days in the backyard, where it seems like someone smacked open a piñata and out burst a variety of birds. It was mainly due to the weird air, the wind direction, approaching rain, time of year, presence of cherries and grapes, and migration waves coinciding, though with a lot of residents joining in. Standing in one location and just rotating, I had a female PILEATED WP, female FLICKER, DOWNY WP, male RED-BELLIED WP, quick glimpse of probably female YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER (they've been rare this year in our woods), RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH checking out a hornet nest high in a sapling, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH stashing sunflower seeds, a flock of about 40 CEDAR WAXWINGS (close study revealed no Bohemian to add to my yard list), numerous recently arrived DARK-EYED JUNCOs, numerous calling (both Tseeps and Peabodys) though hard to see WHITE-THROATED SPARROWs (one gloriously full colored M did pop up though), several GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETs, BLUE JAYs, 3 TURKEY VULTUREs circling rather low overhead, many AMERICAN ROBINs feeding on the berries, 2 vocalizing CAROLINA WRENs (one was Tweed-e-o'ing while the other was doing a Bronx cheer), and a single observation of a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (actually first time for this year's yard list, though I saw this species earlier this year elsewhere); the Warbler was chewing on a grape: it was pecking at it, getting small mouthfuls at a time; took several passes on the same fruit while it was attached to the vine. BC CHICKADEE and TUFTED TITMOUSE upped the count for that single stance. I then walked to the other side of the property where I had in the same bush only a few feet away, 4 more Golden-crowned Kinglets and a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET all together. I think this is the first time I've had both Kinglets in the same view at the same time. So much energy packed into one bush! Lots of vocalizing and hopping about. ChrisP -- 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/ --
