Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 15:36:25 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Frank Powers Subject: Hooter in the am MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Fellow birders: You know your partner is beginning to accommodate your hobby when she wakes up along with you at 4:49 a.m. and encourages you to go see the Barred Owl that is hooting from the tree nearest to your bedroom window. Or did she just hope that I'd chase the damned thing away? No matter. The Owl woke us both and called for about 10-15 minutes in classic Barred Owl fashion. Then it moved slowly away down the neighborhood for another 15-20 minutes, its call still very distinct, just not as loud (to us, anyway). It was too dark and too high in the tree to make it out, but that call is simply unmistakeable. Even at that early hour. Sounded young and small (not deep, nor as loud as some I've heard), but that may have been a sleep-deprived impression. Other yard highlights this weekend were a Cooper's Hawk on Saturday, who inexplicably left all the House Sparrows alone; a gorgeous male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on Sunday, with beautiful red coloring on throat and head. Had about 20 Northern Cardinals at the feeder this morning, about 3/4's were male. Guess they wanted to see if the owl left them anything. Good birding, Frank Powers Glen Echo, MD Montgomery County ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================