Fellow birders, Went for a cold winter walk this afternoon, with my neighbor and co land owner, Vicki Derr. Our first mission was to check out the old Red tailed Hawk nest in an area where we had recently heard dueting Great horned owls. The nest is in a large Sycamore tree in our main hollow. When on the hill west of the hollow, you can stand almost level with the hugh nest. Sure enough, sticking out from the nest were the ear tufts of the owl. That's all we ever saw, but they moved around a lot and occasionally disappeared. One shown reddish when it caught the sunlight. That was enough for me. We had hoped and in fact predicted that these owls would choose this old nest for their new nest site. It's perfect for them, and for us, as well. We will be able to cautiously and discretely observe these birds as they hopefully hatch their young and later fledge them. Looking forward to great photos, as well. Earlier in the week, when it was considerably warmer, Vicki watched from her office window as a Red shouldered hawk caught a snake in the prairie and carried it to a nearby snag. A bit early for snakes, but it was a lot warmer. Given that the day began with Rusty blackbirds at the feeder and ended with a Great Horned Owl on a nest, it would have to rate as an above average birding day here in Perry County. Joe in the woods Somerset, Ohio Perry County ______________________________________________________________________ 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]