I had Monday off for a new bank holiday. What do I do on a holiday? If I have time I hike and see if I can spot owls or their owlets.
Owlet on a lower branch. None of my owl pictures are in the raw. I don’t know how to open these new Canon generated raw files.
Luckily I found two of the three owlets on lower branches. They planted themselves on this tree for a few hours. I got a lot of nice pictures out of it. One seems to stay well hidden now. I look at him as the designated driver. Instead of not drinking to stay safe and keeping everyone else safe he stays well hidden to stay safe. Or am I wrong about this and the third one is more shy?
Can you tell if these are male or female snowy owls? At the website Allaboutbirds.org it says “Male Snowy Owls are barred with dark brown when they’re young and get whiter as they get older. Females keep some dark markings throughout their lives. Although the darkest males and the palest females are nearly alike in colour, the whitest birds—including the ones that played Harry Potter’s Hedwig—are always males and the most heavily barred ones are always females.“
#1 on a log#2 on the end of the jetty#3 on the land end of a jetty#4 in a tree
These four separate owls were all in the same general area , not far apart, on a beach one day. Some of these owls may be juveniles, born this year in the Arctic and may still be changing in colour. What do you think? Which ones are female and are any male?
The babies from different local parks and wildlife areas are starting to hunt. I try to catch local youngsters at least a few times a week. The parents are less visible now. They are leaving them more and more on their own. Soon they may be off to find their own territory.
The owl babies are looking more and more like adults. I saw one hunting, while the others were on nearby trees.Communicating with its siblings nearby. The only sound I have heard them make is a screech like sound.I think they are so cute. As long as you are quiet and respect them from a distance they will tolerate you being around.It moved around from downed tree to tree searching for wildlife along the stream.Pausing to look at me. This one was on this downed tree scanning the stream bed for dinner in the deep, dark woods. It caught a few things, but I could not get a good look. The stream bed is a foot or more below the ground level with plants obscuring its view and the owlet went right down to that level. What did it catch? I could not tell, but it was eating something more than once. A frog perhaps? A chipmunk looking for a drink?
I will enjoy these youngsters while I can. Who knows, maybe in other nearby parks in the coming years these owlets with raise their own families. One can only hope.
How do you find an owl in the wild? Actually in my case the owl found me. I was hiking through the woods, which I have been doing a lot of lately on a lot of different trails, when an owl flew right over my shoulder coming from behind me. I have repeated found owls since so I will give you some of my tips.
The owl flying over my shoulder peaked my interest so I kept looking in the areas I hike. Look for an old growth forest with lots of older, thick trunked trees. If they have holes in them, this may be a forest to find some owls. Sometimes they take over nests of hawks, but others times they may nest in a tree hole.
Sometimes I have caught them by seeing movement through the woods. It was a parent hunting. They may fly from a tree to the ground, or from a tree to another tree. The breakfast of champions for owlets seems to be chipmunks. It may be because there are so many of them, or the fact they at times make a lot of noise thereby identifying themselves.
Most of the time barred owls I found do not make the typical “Who cooks for you?” call that is ascribed to them. I have heard a lot of other calls and sounds I have not heard on recordings. If you find them listen to the noise they make and try to remember it as it may help you locate them the next time.
Baby after fledging the nest.
A babies make a weak screech sound when hungry and calling for food. They may do this in early morning or early evening. If you find babies, commit the sound to memory. It will help you locate them in the future.
This appears to be an owlet as well.
If you are quiet and aware you have a better chance of finding them. You will have more luck if you do not bring a dog with you. You will have more luck if you go by yourself or have a friend who agrees to be quiet while searching. Don’t have your phone sounds on. If you are preoccupied you may not hear them. If your sounds are on they may stay quiet. You have to be aware of your surroundings and listen to the sounds of the woods.
Two siblings just hanging out. The third one is an outlier. He is always nearby, but usually hiding behind branches.
Sometimes other birds announce the parent owl’s whereabouts. I have seen bluejays going crazy loudly complaining and followed the sounds to find the parent owl. Sometimes that has led me to the owlets. I have not seen them harass the owlets in this manner, just the parents.
Sibling love
After the owlets fledge, the parents and owlets move around to different areas each day I have found. Expand the region you search in around the nest to locate them.
Close to feeding time at least one of the parents would be nearby.
Parents would sometimes be nearby after they fledged, other times not. If you hear a hoot, check it out. They may be calling their mate or their young. You can not always count on them being nearby, unless it is feeding time.
The main advice I have to give is be quiet and respect nature. Do not get too close. Keep a respectful distance. Don’t tell too many people, as they will tell some etc. and the owls may leave and not return. I have heard one story of a whole group of photographers walking through the forest everyday following the owls around and the pair left, never to return. So enjoy nature, but respect nature!
Do you like surprises? It depends on what it is I guess. For almost week I saw one baby owl in the tree hole, so I thought there was only one. However, one day I arrived one was in a neighboring tree having most likely fledged that day, and one was looking out the hole. Later, another head popped next to the owl in the hole. So all in all there were three owlets.
It was a suprise to see another head pop out.The second one fledged and hung around the nesting tree. One left to go. It took him another two days before he flew out of the nest.I think he was trying to figure out what to do next. Or maybe he was waiting for his sibling.
Seeing three owlets was definitely a surprise and a good one at that. Be quiet on your walks through the woods. It is amazing what you can witness.
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