Hi, 

Yesterday evening I was watering some newly-transplanted hostas and I found an Eyed Elator on the leaves of one of the plants. I had not seen one of these huge click beetles for over 30 years, although I am out in the field a lot and keep my eyes open for unusual insects. Can they really be that uncommon? Anyway, a very impressive beast -- we watched it "click" a few times and replaced it on its leaf. I was interested to see that all of the carapace is glossy or semi-glossy, but the false eyes on the thorax (both "pupils" and "whites") have a dull velvety finish which gives them a very realistic "depth."

Afterwards we went out to a part of our Kensington SE block along Sligo Creek which had looked good for Screech Owls (lots of old trees with Screech Owl-sized holes). We sat on a park bench and waited for dusk, listening to Wood Thrushes. At 8:45 I played the tape and shortly in came 2-3 agitated screech owls, calling with sharp whinnies and flying over us, hard to tell how many but they were there! We left them in peace after a couple of minutes and walked back to the car in the dark. Very nice.

Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper
Colesville, MD