In the gathering gloom of last evening, I nearly stepped on a 
woodcock in my back yard.  This is my second record for my yard; by 
coincidence, the only other record was November 22nd, 2005.  OK, not 
as amazing as my brother's coincidences, but not bad considering that 
I 'm not home most of the time.  Today I watched a male pileated 
woodpecker eating Hercules Club berries.  You wouldn't think that a 
small plant like that could hold a big bird like that, but it 
did.  He hung on the stems of the berries upside down and ate his 
fill. Later, while walking in the yard, the dickey birds were fussing 
over something in the holly grove.  It occurred to me that it might 
be an owl, but I couldn't see anything. I went and got some 
binoculars and, after several sweeps through the foliage, finally 
spotted a gray phase Eastern Screech Owl about 15' up near the middle 
of a branch.  In terms of the boldness of their attacks on the poor 
owl, the red-breasted nuthatches were way bolder than anyone else, 
coming to within inches of it.  The Carolina Chickadees were also 
quite bold, coming to within a foot, while the Carolina wrens stayed 
a good yard or more away, but made the most noise.  An Eastern Phoebe 
showed up and also got within a few yards, chipping loudly.  The 
juncos stayed back at least 8-10 yards, while the hermit thrush was a 
distant cheerleader, egging on the others from a respectful 
distance.  No titmice showed up, and I have had none at the feeder 
for the past two weeks.  The goldfinches didn't get involved in the 
melee at all.  Perhaps this owl is a migrant - one might assume that 
resident birds have safe and comfy tree holes to live in, and gray 
ones are not at all common here.  I got a good image of him, but have 
no place to post it since the family website crashed.  Also had a 
downy woodpecker come to the suet basket and when she started pecking 
at the suet, a Carolina wren showed up below, grabbing the pieces of 
suet that were raining down.  The hermit thrushes learned this trick 
long ago, but I've not seen a Carolina wren do it before.

Paul Bystrak

3709 Devonshire Drive
Salisbury, MD 21804
410-572-9950
443-783-1268 (cell)