So as I was saying, it was dusk. Mr. Owl started flapping his wings at the entrance of his hole. We figured he would take to flight and that would be that!
After a few minutes of flapping, he started climbing up the tree using his beak and talons to dig into the side of tree. About four feet above the entrance to his "house", there is a flat area. I like to call it the launch pad. After reaching the launch pad, he sat there a few more minutes, limbering up his wings. Suddenly, he threw himself into the air and hopped/flopped to the neighboring tree. It looked anything but graceful. In fact, it almost looked as if this little guy was learning to fly!
Definitely couldn't be "our" owl! The owl that wound up in our living room last week, when finally given the chance to fly away, soared quickly, confidently - like he'd been doing it for some time. We watched our new friend hop, flop and flap from branch to branch and limb to limb. He was definitely a newbie!
For some reason, I looked back at the hole and what do I see? Another owl climbing out of the hole and up to the launch pad! TWO OWLS!! From the launch pad, owl number two launched himself into the neighboring tree and followed the route of his "hole-mate"through the branches.
We are mesmerized by the owls! Giddy with excitement that we have "National Geographic" going on outside our living room window. There may have even been a discussion about acquiring some sort of night vision camera! Again, let me reiterate, we were excited! So excited that we almost missed the THIRD owl scampering out of the hole and up to the launch pad!
Charlotte was fast asleep at this point and in all of our excitement, we must have alerted Grace - in her room - that something was going on. She sauntered out to join us and we quickly pointed out the three owls to her! We all watched them bounce around in the trees for quite some time.
Feeling pretty lucky that we had three owls in our backyard, you can imagine our great surprise when a fourth owl crawled out of the hole and joined his brothers and sisters frolicking in the night. Four owls! Woo hoo!!
Just as we think things are winding down for the evening, the owls being harder and harder to track as the sky gets darker and darker, another owl pops out of the hole! FIVE OWLS!
We have five owl friends making their home in our backyard! Just another reason, we love living in the country!
In the mornings, when we wake up, one of the owls is always in the entrance of the hole - "standing guard." He always makes eye contact with me as I watch, drinking my coffee.
Throughout the day, there is usually an owl at the entrance...but over the last fews days I've noticed that by lunchtime - and throughout the afternoon - all the owls tuck themselves far and away inside their cavern of a hole. Only after dinner, do they start appearing again!
We have yet to see them all venture out of their hole again. Not because they aren't venturing out but because we've gone to bed before they start shaking and baking for the evening!
So anyway, that is our exciting late-breaking owl news! I plan on doing a lot of owl watching and I plan on doing a thorough search of Barn Owls on Google! I'll keep you posted!
After a few minutes of flapping, he started climbing up the tree using his beak and talons to dig into the side of tree. About four feet above the entrance to his "house", there is a flat area. I like to call it the launch pad. After reaching the launch pad, he sat there a few more minutes, limbering up his wings. Suddenly, he threw himself into the air and hopped/flopped to the neighboring tree. It looked anything but graceful. In fact, it almost looked as if this little guy was learning to fly!
Definitely couldn't be "our" owl! The owl that wound up in our living room last week, when finally given the chance to fly away, soared quickly, confidently - like he'd been doing it for some time. We watched our new friend hop, flop and flap from branch to branch and limb to limb. He was definitely a newbie!
For some reason, I looked back at the hole and what do I see? Another owl climbing out of the hole and up to the launch pad! TWO OWLS!! From the launch pad, owl number two launched himself into the neighboring tree and followed the route of his "hole-mate"through the branches.
We are mesmerized by the owls! Giddy with excitement that we have "National Geographic" going on outside our living room window. There may have even been a discussion about acquiring some sort of night vision camera! Again, let me reiterate, we were excited! So excited that we almost missed the THIRD owl scampering out of the hole and up to the launch pad!
Charlotte was fast asleep at this point and in all of our excitement, we must have alerted Grace - in her room - that something was going on. She sauntered out to join us and we quickly pointed out the three owls to her! We all watched them bounce around in the trees for quite some time.
Feeling pretty lucky that we had three owls in our backyard, you can imagine our great surprise when a fourth owl crawled out of the hole and joined his brothers and sisters frolicking in the night. Four owls! Woo hoo!!
Just as we think things are winding down for the evening, the owls being harder and harder to track as the sky gets darker and darker, another owl pops out of the hole! FIVE OWLS!
We have five owl friends making their home in our backyard! Just another reason, we love living in the country!
In the mornings, when we wake up, one of the owls is always in the entrance of the hole - "standing guard." He always makes eye contact with me as I watch, drinking my coffee.
Throughout the day, there is usually an owl at the entrance...but over the last fews days I've noticed that by lunchtime - and throughout the afternoon - all the owls tuck themselves far and away inside their cavern of a hole. Only after dinner, do they start appearing again!
We have yet to see them all venture out of their hole again. Not because they aren't venturing out but because we've gone to bed before they start shaking and baking for the evening!
So anyway, that is our exciting late-breaking owl news! I plan on doing a lot of owl watching and I plan on doing a thorough search of Barn Owls on Google! I'll keep you posted!
3 comments:
Do you have the book "Owl Babies" for the kids? It's one my daughter loves. You have the real deal in your yard! So great!
Yes, checkout the book "Owl Babies" I bet your girls will love it! This is really amazing. What better entertainment could you ask for?
How cool! I'll bet the girls love it. I know Kendry would.
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