Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Mid-Atlantic Birdwatching - Page 2, 1 by rcn48

rcn48 wrote:
Even though I've been following along on the first thread I really didn't have anything to add, just enjoying all your wonderful photos :) I wish I had my camera with me yesterday, although I probably would have dropped it anyway when I nearly jumped out of my skin when my "sighting" flew from his perch! We're still not able to drive into the nursery and I walked in while Rick was on the tractor trying to knock down a little more snow in the driveway. Stupid fool I am, when we had those spring like temperatures a month ago I started refinishing a chair and left it inside one of the vacant hoop houses. Then we got all this snow and I haven't been able to drive in to bring it back to the house to work on. Okay, so you're probably wondering what all this has to do with birdwatching? LOL

Here goes...I walked into the hoop house to check on the chair and a huge bird swooped down from his perch and flew toward the back of the house. At first I thought it was a hawk but he turned around and flew back towards me showing his beautiful face - it was a Barn Owl! I obviously spooked him and he hit the other end of the house :( He quickly recovered, turned around and flew back through the house and out the back door. I'm sure there's easy hunting for him because Phoebe caught a few mice of her own in there last year! I'd love to get a picture of him if he comes back but I really don't want to spook him again. I'm afraid another surprise visit might cause him to fly into the wall again and I certainly don't want to cause him any harm. I've only seen a few owls in my life and it's always a treat but this gorgeous fellow made my day :)

(A "borrowed" photo since I couldn't get one of my own!)