Yard visitors 5/30,5/31
GAIL@UMDD.UMD.EDU
Mon, 1 Jun 98 09:00:08 EDT
Saturday evening I was doing some yard work in the (somewhat) cooler hours,
when I faintly heard a Screech Owl call. It seemed to come from the back of my
property, so I walked down to the fence line and whistled "screech owl" a
bit. I was astonished when FOUR (count 'em, four) baby Eastern Screech Owls
flew into the tree above my head. They were still grey and downy, like little
fuzzy gnomes, but they could fly after a fashion. They sat and called, made
little screechy noises, and bobbed their heads trying to gte a better look at
me until Momma flew in, then they all flew after her when she turned and
headed for the next yard. What a great surprise! We have lots of old trees
in the neighborhood with suitable holes, so I guess they nested locally.
The next morning I was up extra early, to try and beat the heat, and enjoyed
being serenaded by a male Baltimore Oriole who has staked territory in our
sycamores. Unfortunately it was not "Toot", the vocally-challenged oriole of
our four previous years, but a male with a fine, full song. (Toot, despite
his song which consisted only of "tootily toot...toot!", successfully held
territory and raised four broods here so we hoped he'd return.) Other yard
activity includes two noisy broods of House Wrens, at opposite ends of the
yard, a brood of Titmice (Titmouses?) and one of Chickadees, Flickers in the
old locust, and Catbirds in the hedge. The Robins and Cardinals, which were
already well underway when we left for China on May 1, have apparently
fledged. No Great Crested Flycatchers this year, sigh!
But I'll take Screech Owls any day!
Cheers, Gail Mackiernan
gail@umdd.umd.edu