First Bird of 2011--Eastern Screech Owl

During the Upper Bucks Christmas Bird Count a few weeks ago, I found 17 Eastern Screech Owls within a couple miles of my house, including one two blocks away in the park. So after we rang the new year in at midnight, I planned to take my three kids out to see if we could call up this neighborhood owl. My two youngest kids were just too tired (normal 7:30 bedtime!), but I was able to take my 8th grader out for a few minutes. Within 20 seconds of blasting an Eastern Screech Owl call from the iPod on my car stereo, the bird flew in and landed on a tree limb above the car in the park parking lot. We watched it fly back and forth several times for about 5 minutes for a lovely way to start the new year. If I can pull this off that easily next year, I think I may have the makings of a new family tradition :-)