On Saturday, I made a trip up to Killdeer Plains, determined to see one of my Ohio nemesis birds, the Long-Eared Owl. On previous attempts, I was either with a group of people or unsure of where the secondary grove was, and I figure I have dipped on the owl about 15 times. This day I was prepared. I first checked the traditional owl grove and was met by a fellow coming OUT of the grove on horseback, yelling for his dog. He departed to the southwest. I spent about a half hour in the grove checking for owls: a decent amount of pellets and whitewash, but no owls that I could see. Around the end of the half hour period, the horseman's dog appeared, circling the grove before taking off for parts unknown. I then went for the secondary grove. I was alone and figured I would be somewhat nonthreatening, plus I told myself once I see these guys, I don't ever need to come back to this particular grove. So I tromped across icy and wet fields, managed to brachiate across the stream without getting my feet wet, and headed to the grove. A lot more owl sign there, and after another half-hour, voila! A group of five Long Eared Owls staring at me. I had to wonder if part of their reputation for being disturbed by humans is due to how cross they look. Other items of note: The ponds are all still frozen except in spots where the Canada Geese are keeping it open. No ducks at all. No Northern Harriers(!). Large numbers of Robins. Full list: Canada Goose 173 Bald Eagle 1 (first year bird on the ice at Pond 27) Red-tailed Hawk 10 Rough-legged Hawk 1 (light phase) American Kestrel 2 (seemed to be a mated pair - the male flew off with a rodent in his talons) Mourning Dove 1 Long-eared Owl 5 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 4 Northern Flicker 1 Blue Jay 8 American Crow 10 Horned Lark 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 American Robin 45 European Starling not counted, pretty much everywhere American Tree Sparrow 11 Song Sparrow 2 Northern Cardinal 1 Red-winged Blackbird 50 (all males) Eastern Meadowlark 5 Rusty Blackbird 1 (in same flock as RWBB, grackles) Common Grackle 20 (in same flock as RWBB) Andrew R. Sewell, MS, RPA Principal Investigator Historical/Industrial Archaeology Hardlines Design Company 4608 Indianola Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43214 ph. (614)-784-8733 fax (614)-784-9336 _____ This mailbox protected from junk email by MailFrontier Desktop from MailFrontier, Inc. http://info.mailfrontier.com ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]