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duckling-it's what's for dinner



Hi folks,

Tracked a female Barred Owl for the second consecutive night to find her
perched very low in a tree right beside the big pond in Freedom Park in
Charlotte. Interestly, some people who were there for a late-night fishing
experience didn't ever notice the owl perched only 80 feet or so away. I
strongly suspect that she is scoping out the newly hatched Mallard ducklings
that are less and less in number with each passing day. She is certainly
there with a purpose as she has one persistently begging young to feed. 

My most interesting tracking/foraging experience to date (occurred while I
was in exile) was a male perched on a power line over by Presbyterian
Hospital near the downtown area. He was perched directly over a row of those
deplorable bradford pear trees that contained a flock of roosting Robins.
Every few minutes he would hop-fly 6 feet or so along the line, and every
time he did, 4 or 5 Robins would come darting out of the trees. His purpose
was quite obvious due to his concentrated gaze into the trees. 

Eric Harrold
Charlotte, NC