Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 23:34:35 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Chris Starling Subject: Re: Barred Owl Success MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" What a great story thanks for sharing! -----Original Message----- From: Stan Arnold [mailto:dy.dx@VERIZON.NET] Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 10:08 PM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Barred Owl Success Hi Folks, No reports of great rarities, or multitudes of waterfowl this evening, but instead, a note about a modest milestone in my birding career. It isn't often that I get to go birding with someone who strikes me as an expert birder, but last month I had that opportunity when I did the Lower Kent Co. Christmas Bird Count with our tireless atlas coordinator, Walter Ellison. I was amazed at Walter's repertoire of bird calls and bird-attracting sounds. He was seldom silent, as we beat the bushes for a very satisfying day's tally. I used to think that, besides spishing, THE way to attract birds was with a screech owl tape, but I watched Walter bring a forest full of chickadees, wrens, and their cohorts to life with his Barred Owl calls. I had to smile at the rendition of Red-breasted Nuthatch that he and his wife Nancy did, but he said, very politely, something to the effect of "don't laugh, it works." And I believe him, though of course there need to be RB Nuthatches around for it to work. Anyway, I can't remember when I've learned this much about birding in a day, and I felt greatly empowered with the experience. So, in the ensuing weeks, I have been very vocal in my pursuit of birds, experimenting with many sounds and calls, and even trying Red-Breasted Nuthatch calls at every stand of pines I encounter, hoping no humans are around to hear me. I had my first owl success the morning after the Ocean City count, where I learned the location of several Great Horneds. I made a few stops and practiced my call, and on the third stop (yep, third times a charm), I called and got an answer. Boy did I feel smug! And how wonderful to be able to leave the tapes behind. This afternoon I was milling around my atlas block in the vicinity of the Patapsco River and the Halethorpe ponds (AA Co.), and stopped in the middle of some open woods, and just started blaring out my Barred Owl rendition to see what would respond. A few chickadees and a Downy woodpecker started making noise, and then out of the corner of my eye I saw a big form coming right at me, and I turned my head in time to watch a Barred Owl swoop within ten feet of my head, and fly up into a nearby tree. It perched there in plain sight, and gave it's own ascending hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooooaaaww, putting it's enitre body into every syllable. I responded in kind, and we just chatted back and forth for a good ten minutes, while I took occasional looks through the bins at the impressive sight. I felt like I had just made a close encounter of the third kind, conversing with this alien being. From a practical sense, I just made my block's first official atlas observation of 2003, and also now know where to start looking for an owl nest/young later in the year. From a personal perspective, I've reached a new level in my birding journey, and a level of satisfaction not previously encountered. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie dy.dx@verizon.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================