When I lived in Kingwood TX, north of Houston, we had a neighborhood barred
owl who never failed to perform for visiting birders. Once we had someone
whose most wanted bird was, believe it or don't, the barred owl. We had
him out all day racking up lifers, but he was despondent when we headed for
home without it. We kept telling to just hang onto his hat. Sure enough,
when we turned to go into the Kingwood subdivision, the ol' boy was perched
atop the Kingwood sign. I don't know if the birder has recovered to this
day. (Sometimes we had to drive around and find him sitting in someone's
yard.)

Mary Ann Chapman
Seattle