[texbirds] Inadvertent screech-owl in Spring
- From: Robert White <glqman@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:08:40 -0800 (PST)
I'm really glad David issued the patch challenge. The day he issued it a
neighbor told me about seeing a Bald Eagle nearby. I decided to go the next
day to look for it. On the way out the door, there was a Cooper's Hawk on my
front lawn with a dead squirrel. At the retention pond where I found the eagle
after two minutes, there were ten snipe on the shore within twenty feet of each
other. I returned a few days later and was unable to relocate the eagle.
Instead, there were 41 Great Egrets, an immature White Ibis, and two Roseate
Spoonbills, a rarity 70 miles from the coast.
Other than Meyer Park I don't know too many places in my patch to expect much,
so I scanned the circle and found a new place, Cypress Forest Park, about a
quarter mile from I-45. While walking down a trail through the woods, I could
hear some activity but nothing close. I decided to try a screech-owl call, so
I whistled a couple of trills. Immediately they came from every direction -
chickadees, titmice, goldfinches, Orange-crowned Warblers, Yellow Rumped
Warblers, cardinals, wrens - and they headed straight for a large knothole in a
nearby tree. They took turns going right to the opening to make a ruckus.
Clearly there was a screech-owl inside. I never saw nor heard it, however, so
I didn't report it in e-bird.
Elsewhere in the park I saw three Brown Creepers on the same tree that was a
first for me.
Bob White
Spring, TX
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