Yesterday evening coming home from a walk in Sligo Creek Park, 
just opposite the tennis court near Piney Branch, I heard a lot of loud 
calls, sounding like robins, but different from their usual.  Sure 
enough there was a group of them darting in and round the top of a tree
and I thought Owl?  They all moved across the street-actually towards home, 
and when I followed, I saw the noisy gang included other birds--wood 
thrushes, cardinals, some smaller birds like Car. wren, chickadee, 
titmouse, and even a nuthatch.  Finally I got a clear look at the object
of all this--a red-phase screech owl, perched low in a shrub near me!  
He was sitting as still and upright as possible, even when one of the 
robins divebombed him so close it probably clipped the owl's head.

They kept it up for quite a while, and not a blue jay, catbird, or 
mockingbird in the bunch--just the songbirds and little birds.

Very interesting, I thought--I just never thought of robins and wood 
thrushes doing this sort of thing, esp. so vigorously.

Patricia Wood 
Silver Spring