Owl and Hawk!

[Wenbirdy@aol.com]

Dear Cbirders:
    Amazing, but my in-town back garden has offered incredible opportunities 
to see both a Cooper's Hawk and a Barred Owl in the same week!  The Cooper's 
was staked out on a prominent high limb in a tall pine scoping out the garden 
pickings.  He posed on one leg for a while, then faced the other way.  I got 
my binocs on him and he was wonderful! 
    At dusk just tonight, alarm calls by wrens and cardinals caught my 
attention just in time to see an owl flying at my eye level (from my deck) 
through the trees.  He perched on a limb next to our window facing the other 
way.  With binocs in hand, I opened my window and called to him to make him 
look our way.  Wow!!!!  What an exceptional opportunity for a close 
encounter.  He stayed there for l0 minutes or so, then took off between my 
house and the neighbors'.  Since the late summer, I have heard 
"conversations" behind our house in the woods, but until tonight I haven't 
been able to eyeball any. 
    What a day - That with yellow-rumps, ruby-crowns and white-throated 
sparrows for good measure!!
    
    Wendy Ross Kaplan
    Charlotte, NC
    Wenbirdy@aol.com