Owlet!!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Great news-after much patient (and impatient) watching and waiting I saw an owlet in Sarah's nest this morning!!

I found Sarah looking into the nest hollow and I thought and hoped that she was attending to the owlets and that I might get a glimpse. My wish was fulfilled. Sarah flew out of the hollow into The Wooded Area and I took a look and saw one owlet!! It's hard to see the little guy but it's there!

I changed my angle and got a different look at him.

Judging by it's size, it looks to be between three and five weeks old. I wonder if it's one owlet, two, three or what. I have been fairly confident that hatching had occurred for a while now. On February 16 I saw Sarah catch a bat in mid-air (amazing) and return to the nest with it in her bill. This told me that she had more to feed than just herself. Just this Thursday, March 3 I saw Sarah return to the nest with a small prey item in her talons. But I still had not a glimpse of any owlets. The nest hollow is the highest one I have ever seen them use and the branch is so steep that one's field of view is incredibly limited. Hell, I can barely see 23-25 inch tall Sarah in the hollow until she is close to the hollow's opening!

I'm terribly excited to see an owlet! Bravo, Charles and Sarah!! That's six years in a row that they have had youngsters. Thanks for reading!