Young Barred Owls are extremely cute. At first glance, they resemble stuffed animals cuddling close to stay warm. However, unlike soft furry toys, they are living breathing creatures, who experience many challenges. Challenges that are often similar to those we experience, i.e. hunger, pain, injury and competition.
A special Thank You to my friends Dao, John, Jack and Rikki, who have often provided the guidance that helped me locate these young owls in the Arboretum. (I find it hard to hear the high-pitched hissing sounds of the young owls as they beg for food. Luckily, Dao hears them and seems to find them with ease.) In addition, these four friends and others have graciously volunteered their perspectives, accounts and even a video for this story.)
A few minutes after the first photo above, the young owls moved a bit to their right and became very focused on something.
Apparently, the stick lying across the branch looked very interesting. In my mind, I imagine the young one on our left saying, "Mine, mine!"
By the way, I do not know the gender of any of the owls in this story. I am assuming the owl on our left is older and male. For ease of reference, I am giving him the name, Bruno.
Bruno reaches out and grabs his sibling by the back of the head...
...and pushes him, or her, away from the stick.
The sibling does not fight back.
Immediately after being released, the second owl began a graceful retreat. Perhaps, we should call this one, Gracie.
By the way, this photo also shows a third sibling, in the upper left. This sibling was on the same branch as the others, but it kept a bit more distance. It appeared smaller, maybe younger and less confident. I have been calling this one, Peewee.
Peewee may have learned from experience. He (or she) appears to have an injured eye. It makes me wonder if Bruno might have also grabbed Peewee during some previous disagreement.
May 30th was the first time I saw the young ones.
One of the challenges these three owlets seemed to be facing began earlier that week. I was out of town when my friends Dao and John first spotted them in the Arboretum. A few days later, John learned that an adult Barred Owl had died nearby. Someone suggested that the adult might have been one of the parents of these young. At that point, to the best of my knowledge, only one adult owl had been seen watching, feeding and interacting with the young ones. In similar situations in the past, it has usually been easy to spot both adults working hard to feed and protect their young.
Folks are often surprised by the size and appearance of the young birds. There are three indicators of youth that I think are most easily observed. One they tend to be partially covered with downy white feathers that make them reflect more light and look brighter than adult owls. Two their tails are shorter than an adult's and three their bills look longer and their nostrils are more visible because the feathers on their face are not yet as long as an adult's facial feathers.
There are also behavioral differences. Young owls tend to move their heads in an exaggerated triangular fashion when trying to precisely locate another creature, including humans. They also will occasionally lie down on a branch. When they do, they remind me of a towel draped over a rack. I have never seen an adult in a similar position.
Also, young owls often beg for food almost incessantly. As a matter of fact, on May 30th and 31st as far as I could tell, they were hissing virtually non-stop. Since I knew that one adult in the area had died I was concerned that the young might not be getting enough food. Luckily, on the morning of June 1st, as I walked through the Pinetum I saw one of the young owls eating and an adult carrying food toward the tree where the other two had been seen previously.
Later, on June 6th, after spotting one of the young owls in the Pinetum, Jack and Rikki were crossing the Wilcox pedestrian bridge when they glanced south along Lake Washington Blvd. They noticed an adult owl flopping helplessly in the gutter of the road. It was still alive, but so stunned and dazed that it was not moving itself to safety, as cars whipped past.
Jack and Rikki hurried to help. Along the way, Jack found and rearranged a couple of orange cones to try and help drivers to avoid the owl. Even with the cones, the road was not a safe place to leave the owl.
Jack was faced with a critical dilemma. If this adult owl was the sole living parent for the three young owlets then their lives depended on this bird for both protection and the food it provided. Taking the owl to a rehab center, to be checked out, would most likely require multiple days and could reduce the three owlets odds of survival. Jack did not see any life-threatening injuries that would require rehab. So, he covered the adult owl with his t-shirt and moved it uphill to the dense safety of a cedar tree near the owlets.
In Jack's words, "While waiting to see how it was faring, we confirmed that all three chicks were in the taller trees nearby and still alive. The adult seemed to be turning its head and looking around, but its right eye was closed much of the time. We hoped it was merely swollen.
Rikki texted John & Dao, who contacted Larry...he..quickly came over to see where the adult owl was located, so he would know where to look for it in the morning to check on its status.
In a moment of astounding luck and joy for all of us...the owl took off and flew straight towards us, landing perfectly on a branch, perhaps only 15 feet away...
Close to dusk, a second adult owl, that was larger, appeared and called....The injured adult bird had moved to a tree close to there as well. Both adults called briefly. One of the chicks flew towards the second adult owl, giving its hissing begging call."
Seeing the injured adult fly, and execute a precise landing on a relatively small branch, was an incredible relief. It indicated that with awareness and a thoughtful approach Jack had made the optimal choice that was in the best interest of the injured owl and the whole owl family.
The next evening all three of the young were active in the Pinetum portion of the Arboretum, just west of the Wilcox Bridge, as the sun was beginning to set.
By the way, this photo is a good example of the short facial feathers allowing the nostril to be easily seen on a young owl.
Before long one of the adults showed up and landed virtually in front of me. This photo provides a good chance to see how the nostrils on the adult are mostly hidden by the longer facial feathers. These feathers also make the adult's bill look shorter than a young one's bill, which seems highly unlikely.
At this point, two of the young became very excited.
They flew directly at the adult, who was not carrying food. This, apparently motivated the adult to go hunting - hopefully, not along Lake Washington Blvd. In this photo, we see that the young ones land on the perch the adult had just left. They continued their very active begging.
While this was going on a coyote passed under the trees where the young owls had been residing in the Pinetum. I have no doubt that it could hear the young calling and most likely had been smelling and inspecting the pellets that the young owls had spit up, not to mention hoping an owlet might fall to the ground.
Two days later, Dao recorded this same coyote returning and checking out the young owls. Coyotes are one more challenge that young owls must learn to avoid.
Thank you, Dao, for this incredible video!
I just learned that the next afternoon, my friend Rumi also saw an owl get hit by a car in the Arboretum. In this case, the owl was healthy enough to fly to a nearby tree under its own power. These incidents make me wonder if the Barred Owls are chasing small animals as the scurrying through traffic or perhaps, they have learned to collect and consume fresh roadkill.
This second incident might also be another valid explanation for Peewee's swollen eye. We cannot know for certain. However, it would seem logical to be more thoughtful and careful as we drive through the Arboretum.
The trees and plants in the Arboretum are its living support structure, similar to the bones in our bodies. The creek flows like the blood in our veins and the creatures inhabiting the trees, soil, water and air are like the remaining cells in our bodies, i.e. they are like the living matter, containing the history of experiences that make us all unique.
I believe we should view ourselves as caretakers of life, responsible for preserving and passing forward the Arboretum, and the earth as a whole, to future generations. Traveling through the Arboretum should be done with respect and awe for this living gift, which becomes ever more precious as the city continues to expand into and around it.
The photos at the beginning of this post are from last week. They demonstrate that all three young are being fed. They have avoided the coyotes and most of the automobiles. They are flying well enough that they are no longer confined to the Pinetum. Still, learning to be independent will be the biggest challenge of their lives. However, with the help of their parents, an occasional helping hand from Jack and Rikki, and under the watchful eyes of Dao, John, the many curious neighbors and visitors, I do believe their odds of survival are improving.
A final Thank You to everyone who sent me messages about the owlets and to everyone who met in the Pinetum to watch their development. This has been a very special Spring and if we work together to care for the Arboretum, and the life it contains, there should be many more to come.
Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature lives in the city and black birders are welcome!
Larry
Going Native:
Each of us, who breathes the air, drinks water, and eats food should be helping to protect our environment. Local efforts are most effective and sustainable. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and the local native creatures. Even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape.
I hope we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors, and local businesses to respect native flora and support native wildlife at every opportunity. I have learned that our most logical approach to native trees and plants (in order of priority) should be to:
1) Learn and leave established native flora undisturbed.2) Remove invasive species and then wait to see if native plants begin to grow without assistance. (When native plants start on their own, then these plants or trees are likely the most appropriate flora for the habitat.)3) Scatter seeds from nearby native plants in a similar habitat.4) If you feel you must add a new plant then select a native plant while considering how the plant fits with the specific habitat and understanding the plant's logical place in the normal succession of native plants.
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Keystone native plants are an important new idea. Douglas Tallamy, in the book "Nature's Best Hope ", explains that caterpillars supply more energy to birds, particularly young birds in their nests, than any other plant eater. He also mentions that 14% of our native plants, i.e. Keystone Plants, provide food for 90% of our caterpillars. This unique subset of native plants and trees enables critical moths, butterflies, and caterpillars that in turn provide food for the great majority of birds, especially during the breeding season.
Note: Flowering plants and trees, i.e. those pollinated by bees, are also included as Keystone Plants.
This video explains the native keystone plants very nicely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5cXccWx030
The Top Keystone Genera in our ecoregion i.e. Plants and trees you might want in your yard:
Additional content available here:
https://wos.org/wos-wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Native-Plant-Resources-10-7-22.pdf
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In the area below, I normally display at least one photo with each post to challenge us to know our native lifeforms.
What are the two most common plants in this photo? Are they native to the PNW?
Scroll down for the answer.
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Trailing Blackberry: (Rubus ursinus) Yes, it is a wonderful native plant found in shady areas in the Pacific Northwest. It is the plant with the thin, long, blue-white stem visible mostly on the outer edges of the photo.
Catchweed Bedstraw: (Galium aparine) Yes, it is a plant native to North America. It is visible mostly in the center of the photo. Sadly, it grows onto and shades out other plants so even though it is a native plant, it is essentially invasive. It has velcro-like bristles. If you have been close to it, during this time of year, you will have found the small, green, bristled seed pods clinging to your pant legs. Carefully removing the plant by hand and hoe, as soon as you find it, seems to be the best approach to managing it. Click Here to learn more.
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The Email Challenge:
In response, I have set up my own email list. With each post, I will manually send out an announcement. If you would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Something like:
Larry, Please add me to your personal email list.
My email address is:
LDHubbell@comcast.net
Thank you!
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The Comment Challenge:
Bottom Line:
If you write a long comment, please, copy it before hitting enter. Then, if the comment function fails to record your information, you can send the comment directly to me using email.
My email address is:
LDHubbell@comcast.net
Larry
