Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 07:13:36 -0700 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Lynette Fullerton Subject: Close Encounters... In-Reply-To: <003201c26db4$58abf340$3863a3d1@oemcomputer> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi everyone! I just had to share something that happened to me over the weekend. I was camping in Frederick Co. with some non-birding friends. Saturday morning I went out for a walk in the woods - just me and my binoculars. I'd been walking for a while when I heard a lot of noise - very peeved birds scolding something. I followed the noise, and saw nuthatches, wrens, cardinals, towhees, chickadees, all circling around a hole in a tree. They took turns landing on the bottom of the hole, looking down inside and scolding something in there. I decided to sit down and wait for a while, to see if whatever was inside that hole would come out. After I'd been sitting there for about five minutes, the noise subsided, and the angry birds went their separate ways (I don't think they left because of me - I wasn't very close, and they didn't seem to take any notice of me at all). A few minutes after that I saw movement in the corner of my eye - I looked up where the hole had been just moments before, and the hole was gone, replaced by a gray morph Eastern Screech Owl...We watched each other for a minute or two, then he disappeared back inside the tree, apparently satisfied that I wasn't a threat. I hope he got to catch up on his sleep after that! I felt like the kid who had just gotten the pony she'd asked for every year since she was old enough to want one. It reminded me why I bird - it's not for the lists that I barely pay any attention to (my life list is largely in my head - I keep a rough year list, and could probably tell you if I've seen Bird X in such-and-such county, or in my yard, or wherever...). It's the birds that make me smile like a fool even though there's no one else around - the feeling of wow! that I get when I catch a glimpse of something that is probably an everyday occurrence but that most people will never see in their lives. It's all about the birds... Still smiling (inwardly, anyway - I'm at work now!), Lynette Odenton, AA Co., MD l_fullerton_1999@yahoo.com ===== "The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware--joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware." --Henry Miller __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================