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Ghosts and converts





My birding adventure of the year was while driving a back road last
night with a non-birding friend. In the glare of the headlights on
Mason Farm Road there was a face staring out at us, wide-eyed and
long-eared, from the road shoulder. A Great Horned Owl! Sitting right
there, a few inches from the road. Becuase I was driving fairly fast I
passed it in a flash; but that second was long enough to clearly see
the white throat patch. I nearly went into the ditch with excitement,
and doubled back immediately--all to the great puzzlement of my
non-birding friend. But, of course, the apparition was no more by the
time I reached back. So much the better, for it was all the more
ghostly this way. 

Yes, I have seen Great Horneds hundreds of times, and at much greater
length than this, but this was one of those magical glimpses that will
stay with me for a long, long time to come. There is just something
crushing about being taken absolutely by surprise, and that too on a
deserted country road, late on a raw and drizzly night. My non-birding
friend missed seeing it, but was so intrigued by my excitement that
she swore "I could really get into this birding." So, not just an
apparition, but also a convert gained.

Shantanu Phukan
C Hill