Class picture day...the movie...
http://www.chrisowlcam.net/2014/20140429/movies/20140429-192040-CDT.mp4http://www.chrisowlcam.net/2014/20140429/movies/20140429-193504-CDT.mp4April 30 – The first owlet left the nest this evening at 8:37 PM CDT. After walking to the far end of the owlet rail, it leapt a short distance to a nearly vertical limb of the tree, climbed to its broken top, where one of its parents watched from a small, remaining branch, then jump-flapped its way across to a taller limb that leans into the back yard. The owlet climbed to the broken top of that limb (even higher than the top of the first limb to which it climbed), and, with hardly a pause to consider the situation, leapt into the air, targeting a short tree growing beneath one of the hackberries at the back of the yard. It must have covered fifty feet in that flight, and it lost altitude the whole way since its feathers aren’t yet sufficiently developed to let it generate net lift, but the flight was a success. Both adults observed the whole thing from the hackberry that overshadowed the little tree, but there was nothing they could, or needed to, do to help. It just worked splendidly.
I’ve been wondering for years how the owlets cross the gap from the nest box tree to the hackberries at the back of the yard, where they always end-up. I think I have my answer. The only part I haven’t seen is the transfer from the small tree to the hackberry, but that should be a simple matter of climbing and a bit of jump-flapping; trivial compared to the feat it had already pulled-off.
Returning to yesterday’s activities, I haven’t gone through all of the stills taken on the 29th in order to find the best possible owlet group portrait, but I have looked at the movies I shot, and links to them are included below. The portrait will look a lot like what you see in the movies: two cooperative owlets, two lumplets, and one preoccupied with hatching a plot for world domination. Every owl has its own personality, but I was surprised that three of them were so consistently reserved, which hasn’t been an issue in past years.
BTW, you can see me attacked by one of the adult owls in one of these movies. That would be really interesting, if “visible,” in this case, meant more than a blur passing through six frames (1/5th of a second). Anyway, as my increasingly free-form hair style suggests, I was attacked a number of times during this process (all strikes to the head; hence the hair issue). And, of course, I deserved the attacks and all the pricks of owlet talons in my hands; it’s the price one pays for interacting with this type of wildlife, and it’s a bargain as far as I’m concerned.
One little event that fascinated me: After the owlets had been returned to the nest, the sun had set, and I’d nearly finished cleaning-up after this process, one of the adults chose to perch where the owlets had been photographed. It watched me as I finished the cleanup without a trace of concern (or obvious interest), something it could more readily have done from any of the surrounding trees. The adults don’t normally perch so close to the ground (safety is up in the trees), so I can’t help but wonder if it had a specific reason for wanting to be on that perch, something like experiencing a childhood memory of sitting on that same perch for the camera. Basic curiosity is a simpler explanation, but, for whatever reason, that’s not how it struck me at the time.
Make of that what you will.
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