"27 October 2011" by home page | RedBubble

Hey, check it out! My favorite screech owl picture made the Oct 27 Redbubble home page. Apparently only 3 out of every thousand pictures ever make it there. Very cool! :)

"27 October 2011" by home page | RedBubble:

Holy harriers, Batman...

We’ve had a fair number of Northern Harriers hanging around lately. In fact, yesterday afternoon we saw a pair of them in a mid-air battle with a red-tailed hawk. But just now, there were FIVE Harriers flying over the field adjacent to our yard. FIVE! I wonder if they live in family groups, or if they group together for migration…? But I think we had Harriers around all winter last year, so I don’t know if the ones around here actually migrate.

I really, really need to try to get some good pictures of these guys. They’re usually juuuust far enough from the house that they’re too far away to get a good shot with my 300mm lens. I need to keep trying, though, because they’re such beautiful birds. I just love them.

Screechy good fun

For the past three nights, my hubby's been hearing an eastern screech owl calling from the woods adjacent to our property. (Dave, the hubs, does astrophotography, so he's been outside in his observatory the past few nights because the sky's been nice and clear - and apparently that means good hunting for the little screech owls.) We need to search these little guys out in the daytime!

Early winter bird

Our first Dark-eyed Junco showed up under our feeders this morning. That seems awfully early in the fall for them to be making an appearance. Clearly, winter's on the way!