| Kate and I took a walk in
our neighborhood on Monday evening, right after dusk. As we were
walking along, not far from our house, I spotted a robin flying up from
the grass into a low branch of a tree. I thought it seemed kind of
late for even a robin to still be active, but kept walking and didn't remark
upon it.
Suddenly Kate and I heard
this weird noise, which we initially thought was something like a cat hissing
in a tree. Then, we realized it was a very hoarse whinny, and came
to the conclusion that it might be a baby screech owl. It occurred
to me to inspect that Robin I saw a moment ago. After I put the flashlight
on him as he stood on the branch, he turned, in a very un-robin-like manner,
and we could both see eye-shine.
At this point, we could hear
at least 3 screech owls making this really scratchy call as they moved
around in the little copse of trees we were in. Then, just as suddenly
as it started, they were gone.
We stood there for a minute
listening, hoping they would return, and reveling in the fact that we had
managed to experience 3 new-to-the-world screech owls and virtually in
our back yard. It was extremely cool.
We went back the next night
and they weren't around. We've heard screeches on our evening walks
before, but nothing like that.
And by the way, I know that
I will go down in history as mistaking a Screech Owl for a Robin, but I
really didn't expect to see a Screech Owl and I see LOTS of Robins.
Besides, I didn't have my birding hat on, so it wasn't a true birding expedition,
and it doesn't count.
Jim Frazier
7/2/1999
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