Our Barred Owls, 2012

The barred owls that we have reported on before, including last year, are raising two chicks this spring. Earlier in the year, there were few photographic opportunities: the owls would make their calls ("Who cooks for you, who cooks for you-all?" and a chimpanzee-like "hoot-hoot-HOOT") at dusk or after dark. The first weekend in May more than compensated, because we got good looks at the two young owls just after they left the nest.

Joan discovered a toddler owl on the ground below the sycamore early on May 3rd. It looked bewildered, as would you or I after falling 20 to 30 feet from the nest. His/her coordination was lacking after spending a lifetime in a crowded tree cavity, and he/she could barely climb up on a large stick lying on the ground.

The parent was keeping a watchful eye out for any threats, and changed perches frequently.

The sibling began to peer out from the cavity an hour or so later.

The young owls have the instinct to climb, to get higher above the ground, even though they are yet incapable of flight. Flapping vigorously assists the effort made with beak and talons, however.

This chick ended up backwards, and several times we were sure he would soon lose his grip, fall, and join his brother on the ground.

He eventually fell back into the nest cavity instead.

The next morning we rushed downstairs to check on "our" owls. Overnight the second had joined the first a few feet above the ground, in a tiny sapling that offered no new heights to climb.

They squirmed on the sapling but didn't move to a new tree. Such maneuvers happen only overnight.

When we checked again a couple of hours later, the parent was visiting and grooming the children.

Then we departed for the weekend, but the first thing we did on our return Sunday afternoon was to go on an owl safari, to see if we could find them. The toddlers had clearly gained strength, as they were now much higher up, and each in a different tree. We located the first one quickly.

The second was hard to find, but we knew it would not have gone any distance, so we searched around the old location and around the parent, and discovered him cloistered in foliage.

We consider ourselves truly privileged to have observed these barred owls over the last three seasons.

Mama/Papa Owls

Here is a small photo essay on the watchfulness of mama and papa owl. As long as the chicks could not fly, one parent stayed close to keep an eye on them while the other hunted. (We saw one small squirrel barely avoid becoming lunch by ducking under an asian honeysuckle bush.) The parents did not act as if they considered humans a threat; we took neighbors and a friend on a few "owl safaris" until the leaves came out enough to make them difficult to find. After the chicks were able to fly on their own, the owl family had a much larger range to cover, and we have had only one or two brief glimpses since.

Owls paying attention:





Owls taking 40 winks: