As tiring as being a rural veterinarian can be, occasionally an event like a barn owl fledgling walking in the door makes it enjoyable. The same person who brought in a barn owl last fall arrived Thursday with a fledgling she found on her air conditioner. She had seen two on her chimney the night before and thought one was ill. It kept raising its wings. After the history and a physical, I was reasonably sure it left the nest a couple of days to early but was otherwise fine. I fed it 2 chicks which were gone this morning and another two today. I decided to take it back to the house. The chimney was inaccessible due to power lines so we placed it on the AC at 9pm. It flew to a protected space on the porch. At 9:30 we watched 68 bats squeeze out of a hole in the attic and the babies started calling from the chimney. My patient then flew to the gutter and on to the chimney. Two birds from the chimney joined him and then he flew to a nearby maple. At this point we heard another one in the maple. Our fellow flew back to the gutter but could not make if up to the chimney. An adult then called from the maple. The patient then attempted to fly to the chimney one more time but ended up on the ground. The adult periodically called. Just before I left the adult landed on the chimney and was silhouetted by the moon behind her. Three birds began the "where is my dinner chatter." In the end, there were five confirmed fledglings (three seen , two heard) and at least one adult. What a night. Scott Pendleton ______________________________________________________________________ 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]