Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2001 18:09:24 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norm Saunders Subject: Northern Shrike & Snowy Owl MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As others have noted, the Northern Shrike was present this afternoon (Sunday, Jan 7) along Hughes Road. While we were there everyone was very well behaved (lest we bring down the ire of the MCC upon us--grin). In addition to the shrike Fran and I had great looks at a Merlin in a nearby sycamore tree. Proceeding from Hughes Hollow to Frederick County we FINALLY (third try) saw the Snowy Owl . We observed the bird between 3:00 and 3:45 pm. It was initially in the field south of Oland Road, perching on a fence post. It then flew to the north side of the road where it sat on the ground in several locations. I was amazed at how the bird disappeared to the naked eye when it was on the ground. We were able to give scope views of the bird to two non-birders who were absolutely stunned by its beauty. Maybe we'll get some converts to our hobby? Leaving the area we saw an adult light-phase Rough-legged Hawk along I-270 and still in Frederick County. Four good birds in one short afternoon! Not a bad day! Norm ======================= Norm Saunders Colesville, Montgomery County, MD marshhawk@worldnet.att.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================