Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2003 10:48:04 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mark Miller Subject: A Hoot Owl calling outside my window on Halloween MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I was working in my office at Patuxent late near midnight on Halloween. As I was doing so I kept hearing a perfect soft Great Horned Owl call. The call was so quiet I thought at first I was imagining it. Then I concluded it must be a taped owl call somehow coming over the internet, since I was pretty sure Great Horned Owls did not really call at midnight on Halloween. Indeed, I'd never heard an owl call outside my office window at any time of the year despite working late on countless night. In fact, I'd never heard an owl of any species call outside any window in my entire life (although I have heard many owl species call while I was in the field, including Great Horned Owls at Patuxent). As I was preparing to leave I shut down the computer, and was surprised that the owl call continued. And I began to wonder if somebody was playing a joke on me. I finally packed up and went outside and stood quietly long enough to hear the Great Horned Owl call once, quiet loudly, and nearby. It was quite a pleasant end to the evening, and just a tiny bit spooky. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/ ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================