I had an Eastern Screech Owl calling repeatedly within the first 10-20 feet of the stand of trees in my yard this weekend. Also had a migrant Ruby-throated Hummingbird yesterday.
Cheers Patrick Santinello From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Gluth Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 11:58 PM To: NYSBIRDS-L-for posts Subject: [nysbirds-l] Screech Owls, Heckscher State Park Working an earlier than usual shift at work got me home with just enough daylight left to run over to Heckscher State Park (Suffolk Co.) to try for migrating Nighthawks. But if any were on the move this evening, none passed through the swath of sky I watched, only a few bats. But I did not get shut out on birds entirely. As I neared my car (parked on Old Schoolhouse Road) I heard the soft "whinny" call of an Eastern Screech Owl from the well-wooded yard of a residence across the street. It was soon answered by at least two different birds not far inside the park boundary. The owls went back and forth for a few minutes with some short lulls. My barely passable whinny imitation may have done the trick, or maybe it was just coincidence, but eventually one owl flew into a tree just inside the park fence. A streetlight up the block provided just enough illumination to help make out the bird's shaggy silhouette and some faint details, but I wished I'd had a flashlight in my car. These birds were among the very few Screech Owls I've encountered without playback of recordings, mostly during the frigid pre-dawn hours of Christmas counts, so finding some without trying on a balmy late summer evening was a very pleasant surprise. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> Please submit your observations to <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> eBird! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
