Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Eastern Screech fly by Nov 24, 2009

Story by Lee:

Tonight, Chris, Ann and I met up. I got there first and there was no sign of an owl. I started doubting my sanity again. Was Brad really there this morning? Did he really hear it or was he being polite? Ann showed up and we looked in the trees from several angles, all resulting in no owl. We went out near the bench that’s under the Mating Branch and I pulled out my Blackberry to see if the owl would respond to my screech owl call. I played it as I said to Ann that it’s only gotten me a reply once. Suddenly she heard it, and holy cow, was it loud! It was really amazing, it was the whinny several times followed by a tremolo. We went back under the pines and looked but couldn’t find it. We figured it was in one of the trees by the flag on the side of the path leading to the building, but couldn’t see a thing. Chris joined up with us, complete with a flashlight but still, no sign. Then, we heard it again as dusk fell and Ann led us across the parking lot. She spotted it in one of the trees by the north side of the parking lot, and it was great because there are no leaves on any of the trees there. It was very actively looking around and making the calls but they weren’t nearly as loud as they had been minutes earlier or in the morning. No photos as it was too dark.