Yesterday, wife Martha, friend Kristin, and I trekked around the area unsuccessfully looking for Snowy’s (TC Airport, Freeville, Poplar Ridge) but very successfully converging on Long Point Winery along with several other folks to see a display starting about 415 pm by the SHORT-EARED OWLs (I counted 4 different owls [and 6 other birders] but there may have been others). Along the way we got an AMERICAN KESTREL on the wire in Freeville and another on the barn across from the Winery.
While I haven’t been able to report a successful nester in my owl box, like Mark has, I did hear a screechie warbling from the neighbor’s pine trees a couple evenings ago. This morning in the quite dark pre-dawn, I let the dog lead me down into the woods. As I passed the area where the box hangs, on a horizontal bare pine branch only 5-6' away from me and only about 5' off the ground, there was a perfectly silhouetted, 'ears' up, EASTERN SCREECH-OWL. It sat there unmoving as I walked by. I suspect he thought he was invisible to me, heh heh. Reminded me of the upcoming mural of life-size bird silhouettes being painted in the CLO lobby! And fun to be reminded again of how small these guys are, esp. compared to those majestic SEOWs. ______________________ Chris Pelkie Research Analyst Bioacoustics Research Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
