Some belated yet historical news for Brooklyn's natural history Paul Sweet, Collections manager for the Division of Vertebrate Zoology - Ornithology of the American Museum of Natural History alerted me a few weeks ago of a small owl that was spotted roosting inside a backyard dense wisteria vine on October 18th this past fall at the home of a person he knew. He requested a photograph of the bird which he received and identified as SCREECH OWL , gray phased. It stayed only one day, seen between 2 and 6 pm. After dusk, it flew up to a birch tree and departed. I just received more details today after inquiring Paul who contacted again the lucky observer. The location of the roosting bird was in the Cobble Hill section, on Baltic Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. Unless I received any other documentation, this sighting represents the FIRST SCREECH OWL sighting in Brooklyn in 101 years ! The last sighting documented on my office records was a Screech Owl seen on Christmas Day in 1908 (Observer, Dr Edward and Jane Vietor ), when actual Christmas Bird Counts took place on December 25th. (CBC founder and activist Frank Chapman was still conducting them I presume). Good birding, Peter Brooklyn Bird Club
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