With 15 plus years of banding saw-whets on Kelleys one of my future goals is to look for saw-whets wintering on Kelleys. Have never confirmed birds over wintering. But that changed some this past weekend. We arrived on the island Saturday morning and planned to do the monthly survey on Sunday. While making a quick stop at the Island Market, we ran into islander, Ed Spayd. Ed told me he had owls in his yard. I assumed he was talking Great Horned Owl but he told me they were my small owls. So then I assume he was talking Eastern Screech-Owl but he said no, it was the ones that I band and go toot-toot-toot... I was very leery of this but what the heck. We stopped at his house on the corner Huntington Lane and Upper Cliff. There are several dense Red Cedar trees in the yard. We walked up to the door and knocked. Ed's wife, Linda, answered and pointed to one of the cedars about 12 feet away. I walked over, looked down under the tree and saw the white wash. Then looked up and there was a Northern saw-whet about 4 feet above me. Linda then said they was also one in the tree by the drive that we had walked by. We walked back and sure enough, there was one there. By this time Ed and Linda came out. Linda told me that I had told her years ago that to find saw-whets you look for white wash under the trees. She said she had found the first bird several weeks ago and that the other two had just shown up or she had just found them in the last few days. To which I said other two? She said, yes there was another in the tree near the street. It took some effort but we found this third bird. All three owls are within 30-40 feet of each other. All the roost trees have white wash and pellets under them. Now I wonder how many more are around... Ed and Linda welcome visitors to see their owls. I could see but not read a band on one of the birds. The other two made it impossible to see their legs. Now if only I could read the band... Is it one of my birds? Are there more owls close by? Too many questions and too little time. Tom -- H. Thomas Bartlett Tiffin, Ohio [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]