Sarah Takes Another Drink!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

A pleasant result of my appearance on KWMU's "St. Louis on the Air" was a considerable spike in traffic to this blog and numerous e-mails asking about owl prowls.  One of the first of these e-mails was from William Krekeler who wanted to go on an owl prowl with his wife in the next few days.  We agreed on Thursday, January 2.  I met William and Renee and was glad to see them properly dressed and otherwise following my owl prowl preparation points as it was bitterly cold that night.  We headed out on the prowl and soon ran into my friend and owl mentee, Brenda Hente.

Sarah flew out of the nest hollow and she and Charles began to duet.  Mating did not occur that night but we were treated to another amazing sight.  For the second time that week, Sarah flew down to the water way and drank!  Mallard Ducks and Canada Geese were mere feet from her.  One duck seemed to vocalize a warning call but for the most part the ducks were not overly wary of this more than potential predator in their midst.  The first partially intact skull I ever found in an owl pellet was in April 2008 and it was the skull of a Wood Duck.  I have seen Charles and Sarah go for Mallards on a handful of occasions. On this night, Sarah was too far away to reach out and grab the ducks and too close to fly and catch them.  The Canada Geese took greater alarm and soon flew away.

Typically I go months and even years between seeing the owls drink so it was especially amazing to see Sarah drink for the second time in a week.  The close proximity of the ducks and geese added an extra-amazing dimension to this evening.  Check her out!







It is always fascinating to see how carefully she looks around between in each drink.  Charles hooted as she drank.  Once finished she flew into The Wooded Area.  Charles soon bombed out in an eastward direction and Sarah return to the nest not long after that.  Brenda headed home and William, Renee and I headed back to our respective vehicles, chatting as we walked.  I was heartened to hear that this owl prowl was one of the ways in which they were celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary!  I wished them a hearty congratulations, thanked them on their choice of anniversary observation and bid them good night!

Thank you for reading!