Texbirders, Just thought I would share our experience with the Flammulated Owl on Saturday. It spent the day buried deep in the brush near the Convention Center. Fortunately a few people had found it the previous day and knew where to look. If you hadn't known exactly where it was perched, you would have just about zero chance of spotting it. In the morning, it was facing in such a way that the face and mostly closed eyes could be seen through a scope but by mid-morning it had turned its head and its face was no longer visible. You could see its breast and its back if you knew just where to look. Late in the afternoon we came back to check if its position had changed and it hadn't. We stayed around with a few others hoping it might "hop up" to the top of the bush before flying out. About 30 minutes after sunset, another gentleman and I happened to be around the "back side" of the clump when we realized the owl had moved. Suddenly he whispered, "It's right there in front of us". I looked and in the inky shadows could make out the silhouette of the owl at face level 10 feet from us in the open. It sat there a second then flew to another branch just a few feet from the sidewalk where others had now joined us for very dark, but unobstructed views of the little owl for about 3 seconds before it flew off into the tangle on the other side of the sidewalk. I had just happened to have been playing with my camera's ISO setting a few minutes before and had set it at 16000 ISO (yes, 16000, not 1600) so I was able to snap a quick full body shot of the little fellow before he went off to get his evening meal. It isn't going to make the cover of any magazines, but you can at least tell it is a FLOW and it shows up a lot better than it did with the naked eye - http://www.pbase.com/sandboa/image/148426782.jpg I am also happy to report that in the few hours I was around the convention center/birding center, I did not see a single person attempt to take a flash picture of the owl. There was probably a bit more loud conversation around the clump than there probably should have been, but people seemed to respecting the owl's space to some degree. The female Western Tanager put on a very good show while people were "owl spotting" as well. Only other thing of note was a male Hooded Warbler in a flock of warblers (Wilson's, Yellow-rumpeds, Orange-crowneds, Common Yellowthroats) that Che'ree spotted in the wooded area just past the water feature. I never saw it, but she said she got a great look at it. Chris Harrison San Antonio, TX Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner