I (and my two sons) were were treated to a special sight in the pine stand today. We spent nearly an hour searching the stand for owls without success. As we were leaving, we heard blue jays making a fuss in the back of the stand (west end). We circled around and I spotted a long-eared owl sitting low, perhaps eight feet from the ground on a pine branch. We slowly moved closer for a better look and pictures. We discovered 5 long- eared owls in the same tree! Most were small in size. They appeared to be unfazed by our presence. We were able to get within 10 feet of the group. They were probably there on our first pass through the pine stand but the blue jays probably pushed them down lower allowing us to see them on our second try. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]