Reading Jeff Wilson's posting about a Long-eared Owl seen yesterday at LBL reminded me of a sighting my wife and I had about 18 years ago. We had just moved into our new house which is in a wooded subdivision on the north side of Murfreesboro. One afternoon, about this time of year, we walked over to visit a neighbor, and on the way, I saw a good sized raptor perched beside the road in a large White Oak tree. I passed it off as a Red-tailed Hawk, and did not have binox with me to confirm this impression. About an hour later as we were walking back home, we again saw the bird sitting on the same limb. I walked over to get a closer look and managed to flush it. When it flew, the dark wrist patches and moth-like flight were obvious. At first I thought it was a Short-eared Owl, but after further consideration, it had a rather upright posture, and occuring in a wooded area even during migration, I think Long-eared would be much more likely. I will never know for sure, and the chances of another Asio in the neighborhood are rather low at best. Interestingly enough, about 5 years ago, a Long-eared Owl showed up one afternoon right in the middle of downtown Nashville! It was seen by several observers, capture attempts were unsuccessful (it was thought to possibly be injured), and it had moved on by the next day. Cheers Terry Witt Murfreesboro Tn =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clarksville, TN __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________