Screech Owl

Burggraf (burggraf@erols.com)
Wed, 8 Apr 1998 09:19:43 -0400


Dear all,

Just a happy note for a Baltimore City-dweller, in a busy neighborhood.  As
I was putting out the garbage at 10:00 last night, I heard the monotone
trill of an Eastern Screech Owl.  The National Geographic guide comments
that this call is often given as a duet between male and female, but I
heard only one owl.  With binoculars and flashlight in hand, I went
hunting, hoping that the neighbors would not misinterpret a
flashlight-wielding stanger walking the lane behind our houses  (with
binoculars, no less!).  I saw the bird fly out and return.  As soon as my
flashlight beam revealed the owl, it flew away again, but did not return a
second time.  I did see it long enough to observe that it was red phase. 
The bird had been singing more than twenty-five minutes from the same
location before it finally left. I will keep listening, hoping that the
bird might return.

--- Don Burggraf ---