Apology...

["Jerry Partrick" <partrick@intrex.net>]

Dear Listers,

I said I wasn't going to post until I had something positive to report.
Hopefully this is not negative but I regret not including some of my reasons
for identifying the bird as a Snowy Owl.

I am a retired Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon with a solid scientific
background.  I practiced in Wilmington for thirty years and birding has been
on the periphery of my life for just about all of my 67 years.  For a year
or two in the '80's, I enrolled at UNC-W to add a little scientific basis to
my interest in birding.  Sadly, I was too busy and could not finish a
master's but my time with Jim Parnell was wonderful and greatly beneficial.
How I admire him.

I am trained in assessing physical aspects of patients and was proud in my
diagnostic abilities in relation to my patient's problems but I wish I could
say that I was as good at identifying birds.  I cannot!  I still can't tell,
in the field, the difference between a Purple Finch and House Finch.  Could
I have been wrong about the Snowy Owl?  Of course I could be.  My wife is
very observant and thankfully she saw and agreed with identification of the
bird.  I was driving and when I stopped, with the bird directly in front of
the car, she approached the bird whilst it was on the road and moved within
feet of the bird.  Even after the owl flew to the top of the bus stop sign,
she and I both remained within feet of the bird.

A nice person asked last night if I knew the color of the bird's eyes and I
said no... (bad observation technique...).  After I hung up, I asked my wife
if she had seen the eye color and immediately she said, "Sure... Yellow...."

The bird was white over it's entire body except for the barring which
indicates a juvenile, according to my references.  The nape, back and rump
were as white as the breast, sides and belly.  When it flew, the entire
undersides was just as white as the rest of his body.  The head was typical
owl-like with large eye ovals and the posturing and turning of the head was
also typical owl-like with extreme rotation ability...  As I said, the wing
span was glorious and I don't know if it was thirty five or fifty inches but
it was lovely.  As I think about it... the thing that is most memorable is
how beautiful it was.  My wife and I felt priveledged and the adrenalin
raced our hearts for a good while.

The light was good.  My headlights were beamed directly on the bird for at
least the three to five minutes whilst the bird was on the ground.  Even
after it flew to the top of the sign, a nearby steet light provided good
light and when it flew into the copse of woods, it still landed very near a
street light.  I would have chased him but my car was running in the middle
of a one-way street and felt that I should move it.  My home is just yards
away and when I pulled into the parking spot, my wife went in and got my
daughter and when they went to see the bird, sadly it was gone.

I would like to thank the persons who challenged the sighting.  Good science
is based on challenges.  Folks like myself need that sorta' thing.  It's a
reality check and keeps me honest.  Let's keep up the constructive criticism
if only for my sake.  It makes good scientific reasoning happen for me.

I might also say that I am an amateur artist, and I paint birds and fish in
watercolor as a hobby.  The birds I paint are mostly favorite common
backyard birds and the Carolina Wren is my favorite bird.  I paint Trout
because of my affinity for fly fishing and make bamboo fly rods in my spare
time.

I shall be attentive to this list and will try to improve my powers of
observation.  In the meantime, I hope everyone in the world will have such a
beautiful thing to happen to them... often.  I will be happy to answer any
questions and help wherever I might.

Thanks to all,  Jerry Partrick