Dear all, Just a happy note for a Baltimore City-dweller, in a busy neighborhood. As I was putting out the garbage at 10:00 last night, I heard the monotone trill of an Eastern Screech Owl. The National Geographic guide comments that this call is often given as a duet between male and female, but I heard only one owl. With binoculars and flashlight in hand, I went hunting, hoping that the neighbors would not misinterpret a flashlight-wielding stanger walking the lane behind our houses (with binoculars, no less!). I saw the bird fly out and return. As soon as my flashlight beam revealed the owl, it flew away again, but did not return a second time. I did see it long enough to observe that it was red phase. The bird had been singing more than twenty-five minutes from the same location before it finally left. I will keep listening, hoping that the bird might return. --- Don Burggraf ---