Late this morning, while I was out, my daughter saw an unknown light-gray bird perched in our backyard. She is familiar with mockingbirds and that's what I suspected it was. I grilled her for a detailed description and every point resonated with N. SHRIKE. I then showed her pictures of both species; she, with no hesitation, picked the shrike. I waited around for a couple hours, hoping it would reappear, but it eluded me.In mid-afternoon, I arrived at the Wells College boathouse, looking for the eared grebe. Spent 75 minutes facing the wind; found 6 HORNED GREBES way out. But I had a fine talk with Fritzie. So I decided to try Long Point SP, where I have located the EARED GREBE in previous years. And there it was!, all alone, north of the point. Should have gone there first.I drove up Rt. 90, north of McKenzie-Childs, looking for the reported snowy owl, but this also eluded me.Finally, since I was there, I parked along Lake Rd., 1/4 mile west of the Long Point Winery, to await possible SHORT-EARED OWLS. At 1703, a male N. HARRIER appeared from the south, flying very low and straight north, disappearing beyond the tree hedgerow in that direction. Shortly thereafter, a male GREAT HORNED OWL called several times from the woods to the NW. I remember years ago when I used to wait for short-ears to come out on Rafferty Rd., I sometimes heard a GHO from the woods near there. Same owl? Maybe a connection here?Finally, while I looked up the hill east, the first short-ear appeared behind me and perched 50' away on a util. pole. I didn't see it until I checked the time on the dashboard. It flew immediately to a fence post and by the time I had hauled the scope around, it had flown towards the lake. Second SE appeared near Rt. 90, flew towards the lake down the huge open field to the north, and passed thru the hedgerow. I was packing up at 1735, when I heard a couple "squarks" (nasal barks according to Sibley, an alleged alarm call).I then saw 3 more short-ears right next to the Winery--one perched on a util. pole; the other 2 flying big loops over its head. Not sure which bird(s) was/were calling or why the alarm calls or harassment (if it was that). The light was pretty dim by this time. Steve FastBrooktondale --
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