Barred Owl ----------
Today’s nature story from our woods here above the Little Maquoketa River Valley can’t be told with a picture due to the lack of light. The photo above is from April 26, and is just supposed to support my story. As the avid reader of my blog already knows, we have watched a pair of Barred Owls this spring and finally saw yesterday an adult owl delivering a chipmunk or mouse to a big cavity in a hickory tree only ~25 yards away from our house. We had suspected that the nest was there but didn’t really have a proof until yesterday.
This evening, sitting on the porch with a glass of wine after sunset and enjoying the mild weather, I heard a subtle whistling call and saw the owl flying away from the nest site. Looking again at the tree we saw the silhouette of a small owl. No doubt, this is an owlet who just started its branch hopping period in life. I can’t wait until tomorrow and hope to get a glimpse of this young owl. The rapidly coming out leaves will make it more and more difficult to spot an owl in the trees every day that passes by and my hope is that the owlet is at least tomorrow still nearby. Otherwise it will be like searching for a needle in a haystack…