No, not the fine book by Paul Bannick, but the visitors to my yard.

Several tweeters indicated the desire to know if the Pileated Woodpeckers returned. I have now seen the male twice briefly at the suet and bark-stripping tree since I reported their absence four days ago; I guess I should have waited a little longer. Haven't seen the female. So the visitation has declined tremendously, but at least the male is still in the vicinity. It sometimes comes right at dusk, when it's almost too dark to see it, but that big black and white bird swooping through the yard always seems to attract my attention away from the computer. Several people reported to me that they have had similar experiences with Pileateds visiting their yards.

The Barred Owl that spent 22 December in our yard was discovered by crows on the 26th, and the racket they made really got our attention. At least 20-25 crows were screaming their heads off in the ravine behind our house. After not long, they moved in the direction of our yard, and I assumed the object of their attentions was getting closer. About that time, the owl appeared in the Douglas-fir behind the house, not far from its previous perches. Some of the crows came in to within 10 feet or so of it, very serious mobbing, while others called from the trees above.

Deciding to take nature in my own hands, I exited the house. I don't like to see anything picked on by larger numbers, even though I understand the principle of mobbing. Barred Owls do eat birds up to sizes larger than our crows. I walked into the back yard and started fussing at the crows with gusto equal to their own, waving my arms around and yelling. Apparently they respected that gusto, and they began to leave a few at a time. They mostly went high in the air and then departed to the south, so I suspect the resident crows had found the owls and called in a flock heading out from their roost somewhere to the north.

I actually emptied the yard of crows, and Netta informed me the owl was still on its perch, apparently little disturbed by my antics. So I went inside, smug as can be. But about five minutes later, we heard crows ramping up again back in the ravine, and I looked out to find the owl gone. Not so smart to leave the owl sanctuary.

Dennis
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Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net