On arriving back at the Great Horned Owl nest after dropping my granddaughter off at school, I am rewarded with the sight of Mamma Owl vigilantly standing guard at the side of the nest while one baby stands tall, and curiously checks out everything in sight.
Is that another baby at the lower left corner?
At this point I’m still not sure if there is more than one baby, but think I can see a clump of downy feathers just peeping over the edge of the nest on the lower left. Is there another one? I’ve talked to the neighbors, but they’re not sure how many there are. The gentleman who owns the property where the tree is located tells me that he found an egg on the ground that contained a partially developed embryo, so we know that at least one baby didn’t make it. Great Horned Owls can lay from 1 to 5 eggs (5 being very rare). The usual number is 2—so there is a good chance that there is only one owlet in this nest. However I am still hopeful because of that suspicious clump of down in the lower left hand corner of the photo.
Yes--There is another baby? Are there more? Only time will tell.
As I sit and watch, the clump of down moves and materializes into a second baby. It’s obvious that this one is considerably younger than the first. He seems weaker and less coordinated than his big brother. Because it is so cold at the time of nesting, incubation begins immediately after each egg is laid. As a consequence the eggs hatch in sequence, which gives the first hatchling a size advantage over its siblings. If food is scarce the largest will out-compete the others for food that the parents bring back to the nest and only one may survive. I can only hope that the male owl of this pair is a good provider.
Both babies checking out their new world
The older of the two babies begins moving about, exploring the nest and stretching his wings. After about fifteen minutes of this exhausting activity they both retire into the bowels of the nest—probably for a long nap as Mamma stands guard.
"Hmmm...Now if I could just figure out what to do with these things...."
I have by now become friendly with most of the neighbors, who are all fascinated with their own private version of Animal Planet. As they leave for work in the morning they usually stop to chat and inquire about what’s going on in the nest this morning.
When I asked the property owner if I could search the area under the tree for owl pellets he was most gracious and was curious to find out what exactly they are. Since owls swallow their prey whole, the owl pellets are the indigestible parts of an owl’s prey—hair, fur and bones--which are then regurgitated (spit out) as pellets or castings. Our homeowner told me that he had found a really large pellet in his yard last week that contained a large, blue, bird foot—similar to, but larger than a chicken’s. I can only guess at what prey may have fallen victim to our owl, since they have been known to occasionally take prey as large as a Great Blue Heron, although their usual prey group are small to medium sized mammals.
After watching for about an hour and a half I decide its time for me to call it a day if I am to accomplish anything else that day. (Owl watching can be addictive.)
Check back again soon for more “Tales From The Nest”.
No comments:
Post a Comment