Bill is right on with this post. I am not trying to do a story out do here , but i just went out to get my mail. Layed the mail down and scraped some ice /snow in front of the door. There were about 6 TV's there in the edge of the woods ,, after a road kill deer that is there. I was scraping and crows were carrying on. I looked up there and saw a large bird swoop in,, had a white tail !!! hahaa , Yes a Bald Eagle right by my house. He is in the woods and I hope I can get some good photos. I got a couple bad ones Russell Lima, Ohio ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Whan" <[log in to unmask]> To: "Russowl" <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 2:34 PM Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] possible long-eared owl, Columbus > Yeah, they're WAY better than we are at detecting owls! > Bill > > > On 2/23/2011 10:49 AM, Russowl wrote: >> That is a tried and true method here for me, I also listen to the >> Bluejays. >> Had Bluejays carrying on in one of the pine groves in Killdeer Plains and >> sure enough there was Long Ears there 3 of them. Have had crows and Jays >> point out Owls to Eagles here, Russell Lima, Ohio >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Bill Whan" <[log in to unmask]> >> To: <[log in to unmask]> >> Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 10:29 AM >> Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] possible long-eared owl, Columbus >> >> >>> Dave as usual showed excellent birding instincts here, and the rest >>> of >>> us ought to emulate. Both crows and raptors, including owls, have been >>> increasing in numbers in urban settings in recent decades. Winters are >>> warmer in the city. Shooting is forbidden. Food is easier to >>> find--everything from dumpster treasures, to feeders crowded with >>> smaller birds, to little Fluffy abroad at night. Tree stands are >>> maturing, and big old trees with cavities are more often allowed to >>> stand these days. >>> Crows are a lot better at finding owls than we are, and they do a >>> noisy >>> job of it, worth paying attention to. Here in Clintonville it's not too >>> hard to find screech-owls, great horned owls, and barred owls just by >>> listening at night this time of year, especially if you crack a bedroom >>> window. Long-eareds and saw-whets are much less often detected. There >>> are small numbers of nesting records of saw-whets in the city; in their >>> much more likely role as migrants these small owls are fond of thick >>> cover, tough to flush, and crows don't mind them as much, but we >>> occasionally come across them in Clintonville. >>> Long-eareds are even more of a mystery; they nested here when >>> open-country hunting grounds were available. We have records of snowy >>> and short-eared owls only from decades ago when we had more fields. Our >>> eighth species, the barn owl, has many old records here, but none in >>> recent decades, having suffered as well from habitat loss; in the old >>> days, it nested in hollow sycamores along the Olentangy with nearby >>> meadows, but no more. >>> Anyway, city-dwellers in older tree-dominated neighborhoods might >>> be >>> surprised how many owls share the habitat with us...especially if we >>> don't press them too hard. >>> Bill Whan >>> Columbus >>> >>> p.s. Check out Bernd Heinrich's new book (Harvard Univ Press 2010), "The >>> Nesting Season: Cuckoos, Cuckolds, and the Invention of Monogamy"! >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On 2/23/2011 8:00 AM, Dave Horn wrote: >>>> Hello Ohio Birders, >>>> >>>> Timing is everything. While taking the trash to the curb this >>>> morning (7:15am) I was distracted by 50-60 crows mobbing my >>>> neighbor's spruce tree. After about 5 minutes an owl flew out and >>>> headed southward. I did not have a decent look at the usual field >>>> marks but it had the slim, long-winged look of a long-eared rather >>>> than the chubby barred owl silhouette, and it was too small for a >>>> great horned. (Barred and great horned both occur in the >>>> neighborhood.) >>>> >>>> I live on Arden Rd. in the first block east of High St. in the >>>> Clintonville area. The bird flew in the direction of East North >>>> Broadway on a straight course, with a few crows in pursuit. >>>> >>>> I'll keep an eye on my neighbor's tree, and other Clintonville >>>> birders might be on the lookout. >>>> >>>> Happy birding, >>>> >>>> Dave Horn Columbus >>>> > > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3462 - Release Date: 02/23/11 > ______________________________________________________________________ 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]