OMG a new yardbird!

Tonight, Gretchen was over for dinner, and when she went out to her car, she heard an owl! It was dusk, so the blue of the post-sunset sky served as a backdrop to the silhouetted trees and Egg Hill.

I went outside and heard it: "hoo h-hoo, hoo, hoo!" Great Horned Owl! Coming from the willow and oaks at the back of Neighbor Ed's property!

We listened to it for a little bit, and then I called back to it with my BirdJam, and it called back to me! "hoo h-hoo, hoo, hoo!"

I ran upstairs to get Em so she could hear, but when we got back the hooting had stopped. Repeated calls with the BirdJam were of no avail. Still, Gretchen said she didn't see the owl fly out of the trees, though he may have stayed low and flown farther into the marshland behind Neighbor Ed's.

This is not only a new yardbird for me; it's also the first time I've ever heard an owl--any owl!--in real life!

I'm so pumped!

UPDATE: This brings my yardbird total (counting the marsh birds I see and hear from the backyard) to 71!