January bird count: Great Horned Owl watches us watching it

There is a Great Horned Owl nesting along the main road into Baytown Nature Center.

We saw it peeping out of its nest as we started the January bird count Thursday. I hope to see some owlets in the coming weeks.

Dedicated David H. led the bird count group and recorded 64 species.

We were trudging along near the end of a 4.5-hour bird search when an opossum came out of the brush and approached the trail. It took a look at me and scurried away.

Not a bird.

The list 
    
12   Gadwall
3    Mallard (Domestic type)
8    Northern Pintail
30  Green-winged Teal
8    Hooded Merganser
2    Pied-billed Grebe
6    Neotropic Cormorant
15  Double-crested Cormorant
28  American White Pelican
9    Brown Pelican
6    Great Blue Heron
11   Great Egret
5    Snowy Egret
3    White Ibis
4    Roseate Spoonbill
5    Black Vulture
3    Turkey Vulture
1    Osprey
2    Red-tailed Hawk
1    Clapper Rail
29  Killdeer
5    Spotted Sandpiper
9    Greater Yellowlegs
5    Lesser Yellowlegs
22  Least Sandpiper
1    Wilson's Snipe
150  Laughing Gull
6    Ring-billed Gull
4    Herring Gull
1    Caspian Tern
35  White-winged Dove
5    Mourning Dove
1    Great Horned Owl
5    Belted Kingfisher
3    Red-bellied Woodpecker
2    Downy Woodpecker
1    American Kestrel
2    Eastern Phoebe
2    Loggerhead Shrike
4    Blue Jay
7    Carolina Wren
2    Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
8    Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2    Eastern Bluebird
1    Hermit Thrush
1    American Robin
3    Brown Thrasher
14   Northern Mockingbird
15   European Starling
110  Cedar Waxwing
4    Orange-crowned Warbler
1    Pine Warbler
45   Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
1    Savannah Sparrow
3    Swamp Sparrow
3    White-throated Sparrow
1    Harris's Sparrow
10  White-crowned Sparrow
7    Northern Cardinal
19  Red-winged Blackbird
5    Great-tailed Grackle
30  Brown-headed Cowbird
2    American Goldfinch
3    House Sparrow
1    Tufted Titmouse