I saw these when I went on a walk. They were very far away. I took these with a zoom lens and the images were heavily cropped. They are not sharp, but most likely the best I will get as I never see these owls up as close as I have seen snowies or barred owls. Maybe someday I will get lucky.
Get out an enjoy nature. There is a lot to see out there.
The ongoing saga has been will the barred owlet catch prey on its own. I have witnessed it catching bugs on its own, but nothing else yet. I guess he has to start somewhere.
After I saw the owlet catch a bug on his own, one of the parent owls came by and briefly dropped off another bug. The owlet is still making loud screeching sounds though, which will not help him trying to catch other prey such as chipmunks.
Hopefully the owlet will be able to learn to not give itself away and catch prey that will keep him satisfied. Is that a cicada or beetle he is eating?
The last man standing is the last person to be left doing something. It appears the other two owlets are hunting on their own. You only hear this owlet screech and boy does it screech loud. The owlets seem to make that noise when they are hungry. Many times I see the parents come by after they have screeched for a time period with food. It is still relying on the parents to feed it, so it’s the last one relying on the parents a lot for food. The parents are still bringing by insects and small animals to feed it. I have been worrying it seems to be taking this one longer than the others to hunt.
It is flying tree to tree, so that is a good sign. What do you think? Is it a late bloomer that needs more time or could it have an issue?
I placed another tick in a box last night. I was beginning to think I would never see an owl feed their babies. They seemed to shy away from doing that within eyesight of me. Then, last night I saw and heard them in all one areas again.
The one parent flew to the same tree as the children. I could not tell if it had someone, but someone I was with said they saw it was holding a chipmunk. If you look carefully under the branch you see dangling legs.
The parent flew to another tree and the owlets followed.
The parent then proceeded to tear out pieces of the chipmunk and feed them to the owlets.
They don’t always do this within view. Sometimes it is high up in the tree tops with leaves blocking the view. I was so happy to see this tonight. Owls are predators. It is what they do to survive.
What do owls like to feed their babies? Multiple times I have seen them bring in a chipmunk.
Chipmunks give away the owls when they are in their vicinity by a noise they make. A good thing for the other creatures in the forest, but a bad thing for the chipmunk. He tells the owl exactly where he is.
This owl seemed to be happy to fly to more open trees around me and show me her catch. Her babies were nearby, but hiding behind leaves. I wanted to stay and see if she would feed them in front of me, something I have not had a good view of yet. However, a thunderstorm was approaching. I hope to witness breakfast of dinner in the future. Have a great weekend!
Is this owlet waiting in anticipation of a meal? Is it contemplating joining its sibling by leaving the hole he knows so well?
I only had a short window this year to catch the owlets at the tree hole. One left the nest the next day and the other I believe a day after that. I could only get there with about one hour or so before sunset so I took advantage of what I had. Enjoy short breaks from having your nose to the grindstone.
What is twice as nice as spotting an owlet in a tree hole? Finding out there are two owlets.
The day after I spotted one in the hole, there was one high up in the same tree, and another one in the hole, so definitely two.
This is the one who was high up in the same tree with their nest hole. I suspect he climbed the tree, however I did see him flying branch to branch the next day.
The mother owl usually flies down to a lower branch for a couple of minutes before flying back to a higher branch. I do not hear the “Who cooks for you?” sound people say barred owls usually make. She or he usually make half a who around the babies. I guess it is owl baby talk.
These two seemed to have left the nest quickly. I passed that tree two times every time I went there and prior to my last post I did not see an owlet peeking out. Would have wished for more days to see them at the tree hole, but I will take what I can get. Go slow and be aware when walking in the woods, you never know what you can miss.
Walking around different woods and casing out tree holes has paid off. I was tracking and following the owls, but tonight this owlet’s eyes were on me. You never know who is watching you in the woods.
This straggler missed his flight. It appears he will be the last to leave the party. He lingered at his winter abode. There were four snowy owls on the beach. On the day these pictures were taken and the previous day, he was the only owl sighted. Have his three other beach mates started their journey back to the far north Canadian Arctic?
I asked him where his friends were. I told him it might be time to head north soon. I hope his internal clock works well. A fellow female photo buff told me she went later and could not find him. Did he listen to me? I doubt it. They do fly between neighbouring beach areas.
All these photos are taken with a long lens and cropped significantly.
About a minute. That’s all I had with this light. Before and afterwards it was dark and cloudy. It was the best minute of my day. Appreciate even small time blocks of sunshine. Stay safe and stay healthy.
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