Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 21:35:34 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: David Mozurkewich Subject: Re: Barred Owl Calls In-Reply-To: <000f01c2bf07$a0e4f130$6500a8c0@yourpa86z1i3g7> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 18 Jan 2003, Stan Arnold wrote: > The day I get attacked by a Barred Owl will be the day I'll have a > BETTER story to tell, not that I'll do this intentionally. Stan, Though I may have shared your enthusiasm for a good story back in my younger days, I no longer do. Chances are you too will reconsider after being too close for comfort on not entirely your own terms. I've been there both with owls at night and hawks (including Goshawk) by day. Granted, some aspects of the encounter can be good material, but you will probably end up having to admit certain embarrassing details. For example, I never got a completely satisfactory view of the aforementioned Goshawks. To keep that story short, let's just say it may have had something to do with "closest approach" occurring while the birds were behind me and we were all "moving at a pretty good clip." Sure, Goshawks are known for their aggressiveness. You'll get no dispute from me on that. But even a bird as small, cute and docile as a Screech-owl can be intimidating. Apparently, the pair was just starting to setup housekeeping in the backyard where I was visiting. Silently, I was tolerated and had a pretty good view until I got greedy, deciding I wanted better. What harm can one short, quiet whistle do? The answer is it ended the show. No, they weren't the ones to leave. Apparently, one of the birds decided he wanted to show-off in front of the other. He succeeded. For the rest of the evening, whenever I decided I would risk quietly sneaking out to check on them, I was spotted, recognized and ... um ... coerced to leave. You're in a lose-lose situation: to duck shows fear and eggs them on. To stand your ground lets them draw blood. Dave David Mozurkewich Seabrook, PG MD USA mozurk @ bellAtlantic.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================