Jim Green asked me to post the following to MDOsprey for him:

"Last evening Nancy and I took a ride (6Pm - 7:30 PM) out to Hunting 
Quarter Rd and then continued up River Road to Edward's Ferry Road. 
While we were at Edward's Ferry I played the Barred Owl tape one time 
and immediately had one barred owl fly in over the truck and perch in a 
tree about 25 feet from us. After watching it for several minutes we 
headed back for home (Gaithersburg). On the way down the road a small 
bird flew across the road and as we drove past it I thought that it had 
landed in a small sapling by the side of the road. I mentioned to Nancy 
that I thought that it was an E. Screech Owl, a bird that she had never 
seen before. I turned around and we slowly drove up the road and it was 
still perched about 8 feet off of the ground. There was enough indirect 
light from the headlights to get good looks at it through the 
binoculars. It was facing away from us and turning its head back and 
forth about 180 degrees. Nancy and I were trading looks at it in the 
binoculars; during my second look I noticed that this bird had no ear 
tufts and I realized that I was looking at a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL!

I was surprised and also extremely happy. This was the first time that I 
had actually seen one "in the wild". I have been on several night trips 
in Garrett County with Kevin Dodge calling them and having them respond. 
I have been on a field trip at night to witness Saw-whets being banded. 
I even found a freshly killed Saw-whet by the side of the road 
(presumably hit by a car) when starting a Tridelphia CBC 4 or 5 years 
ago. But try and look as I might I have never been able to find one in 
the wild until last night.

The good thing about our excursion was that I was out in western 
Montgomery County attempting to do some owling for the Atlas. Whooooo 
says you can't have your cake and eat it to?"

Jim Green
Gaithersburg