Barry and I decided to take the dogs for a walk just at dusk, to beat the
recent heat wave in Maryland. We live in a pretty suburban area, so you've
heard me whine about the lack of interesting birds. Not last night...as we were
passing a house, we saw a largish bird fly from an old willow tree across
the street to a small woodlot-- I recall thinking, "boy it's late for a
Flicker to be out (it was about that size). Then two more birds flew and
we could see -- being closer -- that they were little owls. They perched on
a phone wire and regarded us. A fourth bird flew over into a tree. Baby
Screech Owls! Were they ever cute -- they turned and tilted their heads to
look at us and the dogs, occasionally making a little purring noise.

We watched them and they watched us -- they were full-sized but still fluffy
and had no apparent ear tufts -- until one by onw they unsteadily flew away
into the woods. As we walked away, I heard a low screech owl call...

"Made my day...!" said Barry

Cheers, Gail Mackiernan, Gail at UMDD.UMD.EDU
Maryland