By RAY POPE

Continued from last week.

Back in the early 1970's, young John Sellars Jr. and myself took the trail behind the Inn looking for Barred Owls. We walked several feet into the woods where I started hooting my vocal call. Several more feet into the trail, I started to hoot some more. All of a sudden there was flashlights shinning up all around the trees. John Jr. was about to burst out laughing at all the people trying to locate the "Owls". Farther and farther out we kept up the hooting till we snuck back and finally parted company for the night. The next morning at breakfast in the Inn's dinning room, everyone was excited about the Owl's hooting, but they never could find them. That was John Jr. and my little secret.

Back on the gravel road that runs on top of the levy, we found three active nest with females sitting in the nest incubating their clutch of eggs. Before we got there some visitors said that they saw a Male Bald Eagle offering a large fish to his mate in the nest. Below the levy there was a small pond with a gaggle of Snow Geese, a visitor from the north, which jumped into the air in a "V" formation and circled around before landing again. Some of the Geese were in the white form while a couple of others were in the blue form.

In the same pond we found about seven or more Hooded Mergansers with only one female and the rest were males, all seming to flirt with the girl duck. In a courtship display the male will raise his black hood to reveal a patch of white which she is supposed to enjoy. First you don't see too much of the white till he gets into the displaying mood, then it seems to burst open like some of the fireworks on the 4th of July.

It was a good trip and the Eagles should be there till the leaves in spring block the nest from view. If any of you would like to make a day trip there to see the Eagles, I would love to go and give you your own private viewing. You will have to do the driving in your own vehicle, and put up with me on the round trip. It will be worth it.

Last Saturday I had a Bird Seminar at the Gardens on Main. It wasn't too big a croud, but we filled the seats up. There was lots of information of what kind of bird seed to feed and we talked about Bluebirds. Then I got started talking about some of my tales, from down in Florida and all other interesting bird facts. Afterwards, I got to meet a familiar name that I had shared e-males with for quite some time. It was great to finally meet Marilyn Dozier and her Husband, Bill. I love it when I can put a face to a name. Also, thanks for the very nice card.

Don't forget to mark your calenders for the 10th of March, where I will be giving a seminar on Bluebirds starting at 9:00 am and then, Purple Martins at 10:45am at Garrs Rental and Feed in Mt. Juliet, TN. If you would like more information,call (615-754-2777).

Karen and I would love to hear from you as to whats lurking about in your neighborhood and at your feeders. You can reach us at,( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and myself at, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .