Hope for Owlets

Given the report last week of the demise of the male Barred Owl in Interlaken Park, the good news is a Barred Owl has been seen fairly consistently in and around the nest in Interlaken this week.

Sunday

 Monday

Tuesday

On Tuesday evening an owl was seen just before leaving the nest.

 Thursday

Friday night, for about 15 minutes, an owl moved around to three different trees near the nest. At each location it stopped and hooted a few times, but no answering calls were heard. Finally it moved up the ridge to the east and called a few more times in the distance. On a more positive note one of the neighbors reports hearing what she thought was more than one owl calling during the last week or so.

A couple of different sources have mentioned that this week is about the right time for the female to be laying eggs. If another male does not show up to bring her food it would be unlikely that a single owl could protect and warm the eggs while also hunting and feeding herself.

If you find yourself in Interlaken Park this week please watch to see if you can spot more than one owl at the same time, or in the evening if you can hear multiple owls calling back and forth from different locations. Additional proof that there are two owls working together would be very encouraging and help hold out hope for owlets this year.

You could also look at the photos above to see if you can find any differences that might indicate there is more than one bird in the photos. I do not see anything convincing…but I am trying to remain hopeful.

By the way, after reading this post, a concerned family member suggested placing a box of mice under the nesting tree…that might be a step too far.

******************

Last Sunday a male Pileated Woodpecker (most likely Elvis) was seen feeding in a couple of holes in a tree on the way to Foster Island. This is the first time this year I remember seeing the male without the female somewhere nearby. Maybe the female is beginning to sit on eggs in the nest. Last year just about this time the Pileated Woodpeckers in Interlaken were already starting the nesting process. See the story, photos and links to videos by clicking here.

Curiously in one photo the male is looking very sleek and normal while…

…just a moment later he has raised all the individual feathers on his head. Maybe it was a reaction to some potential danger or maybe it was just a shiver. In any case he quickly put his feathers down and returned to feeding normally.

He remained feeding on the tree so long that I eventually got hungry and left while he was still working away. 

Have a great day on Union Bay…where nature lives in the city!

Larry

PS: By the way there were some interesting updates added at the end of last weeks post. Click here to read them.