Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

When is a screech owl not a screech owl?

From:

Warblerick

Reply-To:

Warblerick

Date:

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:48:25 -0400

Afternoon again.
 I stepped out of the shop to catch some fresh air after spraying some chairs with lacquer, and decided to walk to the fenceline and take a look across the field to the tree cavity where the little gray Screech Owl spent much of last winter. The light is better in the afternoon, so I hoped one might be sunning in the hole. I got my binoculars fixed on the hole, and there was definitely something there, something big in the hole, sort of hanging its head out. An owl? No, it didn't look like an owl. Squirrel maybe? Ugh, the wind was terrible, and making my arms and binoculars move. Try again...no, definitely not a squirrel. A groundhog, maybe?..Went home and got the scope, set it up, focused, and yes, it was a groundhog! Up about 12-15 feet, sitting in a tree cavity, presumably sunning itself out of the wind. Hope the owl is not squashed underneath him...

Rick Sussman
Reporting the bizarre in 
Woodbine,MD