The Owls Mate For The Fourth Time-First Consecutive Mating Nights of The 2014 Breeding Season!

Tuesday, December 16, 2013

Charles and Sarah mated for the fourth time last night.  It was the first time in this breeding season that I have seen them mate on two consecutive nights!

Moments after arriving in their territory I heard the owls hoot in a duet.  Their hoots told me their location: in or near The Trio Conifers.  I paused to look fruitlessly for the pellet that Charles cast on Sunday before heading up to their be-needled bivouac. Spying Charles in an obscured spot in The Tallest of The Trio Conifers, I moved to get better angles. He was hooting regularly and with good volume and projection.

Like Sunday, Sarah was in the tallest of the three and was tough to see. Another least worst picture of her!

On the cool side, she and Charles were only about ten-fifteen feet from each other in the same tree. This entire time, they were duetting with great consistency, especially as it was still relatively early, both chronologically and in terms of the photo period on this mostly clear day.

The commuting American Crows, returning to their rookeries following their day of foraging out west, gave Charles and Sarah some grief but not vigorous mobbing.  Not a drive by but more of a fly by.  This was to change.

Sarah moved in her perch and took up a new position looking down at the ground.  I managed to get a rare (for me anyway) shot of her with her nictitating membranes in action.  This third eyelid helps keep their eyes moist and protected. A more conventional view of her is next.

I was too slow on the draw to film her swooping down in a short but striking flight.  She landed in a perch she used on Friday in a tree between The AYU (As Yet Unnamed) Tree and The Overlook Hotel Tree.

She and Charles continued their duet and I thought given Sarah's easily accessible perch and their solid duet that mating was imminent. However, it was still early enough that the crows commute was not complete. With Sarah more visible, the crows now began a more vigorous mobbing of her. The mobbing still had a fly-by nature to it as it was getting later for the crows.  Yet I was impressed by their large numbers that seemed to come in wave upon wave.

Charles' hooting continued unabated.  I often wonder if the hooting draws more attention from the crows and whether or not Charles gives a, well, hoot or is it more important for him to keep on trucking. Or hooting.

The crows mobbed, mostly in the fly by mode but some lingered and even perched near Sarah. Sarah did not hoot at all during the mobbing.  I wondered if she stopped just to decrease her presence or if she had a pellet.

Eventually the waves of crows ceased and Charles and Sarah resumed their duet quickly.  Faster than I thought, Charles flew over to her and they mated.



By only moving a few feet I could see where Charles had landed after mating.  He continued to hoot as Sarah groomed and adjusted.

I thought the last of the crows had come and gone. I was wrong.  Charles was mobbed by this last group before he flew into The Arena landing in The 06-09 Nest Hollow. Sarah flew into The Arena.  I followed and found her in The Middle Tree. She hooted once and I heard Charles return the hoot from deep within the 06-09 Nest Hollow.  I wondered if a second mating would occur.  I have seen this a few times over the years.

Charles emerged from the hollow.  Both owls have been checking out this damaged hollow quite a bit this fall and winter. Before this branch was damaged in an intense storm in the first week of June 2009, Sarah nested there in 2006 and 2009.  She had two owlets each year.  I do not rule out that they might nest in it again but with the other hollows and snags available to them, it seems on the less than likely side of things.  Why pick the pup tent when you can have a suite?

Charles flew off southeast and even though I had a clear view of him, I soon lost him in the trees. I could not tell if he had landed or was still flying further.

Sarah was still in view and I went to get a better look at her. As has happened too many times to count, I took my eyes off her for a moment and she was gone with no indication of her directional heading.  Grrr.  The growling is directed at me not her. Knowing roughly where Charles had gone, I headed off and soon found him just as he flew off into the heart of a well-attended but not in season song-and-dance solarium. He landed on one of their new, as of the 2013 season, fans.  I had seen the owls on the old fans before but this was the first time on the new ones.

As I got a closer look, I wondered if might be Sarah. Size and shape seemed indicative of her larger form.  I went for a better look but the owl was gone.  I did see a Great Blue Heron flying north over this same building.  I headed south and then east and then beyond hoping to find the owls again.  I did not but I still had some great sightings of other things including a large but not quite full moon,

a couple of Raccoons including this one in Raccoonville,

and a Great Blue Heron in the river system.

Almost a mile-and-a-half later I called it a night, grateful to have seen the owls mate for the first time on consecutive nights this breeding season.  Thank you for reading!

Owls Mate For The Third Time

Monday, December 16, 2013

The owls mated again last night!  I really thought they would mate on Friday even though it was raining but no such luck.  Charles and Sarah did some more nest shopping last week including in The 06/09 Nest Hollow, The 11/13 Nest Hollow and the hollow in the The Third of Third Trees.  I had an owl prowl yesterday but before I met my group, I went to another wooded region of the park to look for owls.  I found the resident pair of Great Horned Owls together in one of their favorite spots.

My friend Robin Street-Morris found these owls in July 2011.  It was good to see them.  It had been a few months since I had done so.  I hoped to find some of the Barred Owls but no such luck.

I met my group, members of a Meet Up group called STL Nerdy Girls and my friend and owl mentee Brenda Hente.  I was happy to meet them and even happier to see them well-prepared for a prowl in the cold and snow. As we headed out we were treated to the sight of two Great Blue Herons perched high in two conifers.  Last fall and winter I saw this species more than I ever had before in those seasons.  This year I have seen them a decent amount but nothing with the frequency of last year.  They are quite hardy birds in the cold weather.

I showed the prowlees the the 08/12 Nest Tree and then I soon found Charles in The Fleur de lis Tree.

As we watched him everyone but me saw him drop a pellet.  I was too busy futzing with my camera!  The area around the The Trio Conifers had received mobbing attention from commuting American Crows so we headed that way. We found Sarah tucked away in an especially obscure spot in the tallest of the trio.  This is my least awful photo of her.

The crows paid her some mind but soon found Charles in his more exposed spot and they mobbed him for a while.  We took up a new position in hopes to see both owls. Sarah came blazing out and landed close to Charles.  The owls had not hooted together so far but they made up for lost time by jumping into a duet.
We found Sarah a few trees away from Charles and the duet continued to pick up speed.  Charles flew to an atypical spot on The First Three of The Three Trees.  Sarah joined him in a more typical spot in that tree.

We hoped that mating would occur as they were pretty close to each other.  Charles flew over us, the underside of his wings illuminated by the streetlights.  The duet continued and our excitement grew as Sarah flew over us and joined Charles.  Before I could focus my camera, the owls mated!  Listen at the 13 second mark for the high-pitched call that Sarah (and other female GHOs) makes when they mate.



After mating Charles bombed off heading east.  We found Sarah perched before she followed Charles.

Everyone was thrilled to see the owls mate!  I gave the members of the group the option to look for the owls or head home.  Some decided to depart but others, including a young owl addict, decided to look for the owls some more so off we went.

We followed the trajectory of the owls with no initial success.  Thankfully we kept ears, eyes and minds open and this was rewarded with hearing Charles.  We honed in on him just to hear a hunger-related call from Sarah as she flew over to join him in a good sized coniferous tree.  They duetted some more and we thought that a second mating might occur.  Instead Charles flew off a short distance west.  We changed positions and saw that Sarah was feeding!  We surmised that Charles had caught something and called to her to give it to her as part of their mating/courtship/pair-bonding exercise.  We could not tell what she was eating but we saw her take some good-sized bites.  Our best guess was a squirrel-sized mammal or dove-sized bird.

While she ate, Charles flew south and she followed him after some more eating.  We delighted in reacquiring them and seeing some more fascinating behavior.  We headed home even happier than before and excited that the owls had mated again!  Thank you for reading!

Owls Mate For The Second Time!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

The owls mated for the second time last night!  It is great to see them back in the breeding swing of things. I did not see them mate on Tuesday, December 10.  They had a good hooting duet going and then Sarah just stopped hooting.  Charles continued to hoot but eventually flew off southeast. I suspected that one of the possible causes of her silence was that a pellet was on its way up for her to eject.  Sure enough she ejected a pellet, which was good to see as she seemed especially hungry the night prior.  With Charles gone, Sarah headed off south to hunt.

Back to last night, I led an owl prowl for my fellow member of the Great Rivers chapter of the Missouri Master Naturalist program, Donna Scott, and her pupils Natalia and Emily from the Science Club of Rosati Kain High School.  Soon after we arrived in The Arena we heard Charles and later Sarah hooting from the vicinity of The Trio Conifers.  We headed that way and found Charles in the shortest of The Trio Conifers.

Once we all had a look at Charles we searched for Sarah who was in her preferred conifer, the tallest of the three.  Sorry, I didn't get a share-worthy of Sarah but she was high up on the southeast side of the tree. Charles hooted non-stop but Sarah had a little pause in her hooting.  Charles flew out on the early side of thingsto a spot near Sarah's Autumnal perch.  Sarah resumed her part of the duet and we went to look at Charles in his more exposed perch.

The duet grew in intensity and intimacy and I hoped mating was on the menu.  My hopes were soon rewarded. Sarah flew to The Jungle Gym Tree near The Overlook Hotel Tree.  My prowlees noticed the difference in color and size between the owls.  The prowlees got a little distracted and I had to direct their attention to Charles flying over to Sarah.  He landed on her and they mated.



I told my prowlees that they had just seen something that not many people had seen in person.  I added that mating of Great Horned Owls had not been observed and described in the scientific literature until the 1990s. They were suitable impressed.  Charles flew east to the edge of The Wooded Area.  He hooted vigorously. Sarah groomed thoroughly as she often does after they mate. Charles flew back our way passing Sarah and us and hooting in flight, which is always a treat to observe.  He landed in The Hilly Wooded Area and hooted a few times.  Sarah turned around and contemplated her next move.

She followed Charles south into The Hilly Wooded Area going low at first and swooping up in a possible predatory move.  We headed out to look for the owls and saw what was likely Sarah making another possible predatory flight before going further south.  I showed the group one of Charles' favorite hunting spots in this area, The Southern Branch Tree, and he treated us to a hoot from nearby.  I found him in one of their favorite duetting spots.  He hooted a few more times before blasting eastward.  We heard him hoot once more from his new location a few hundred yards away.  He covered this distance in no more than ten seconds.  The powerful, fast, graceful and silent flights of the owls impressed the prowlees.

With Charles close by but hard to get to, Sarah being invisible and the temperatures frigid, we decided to head back to our rendezvous point.  On the way, I got a call from my friend and owl mentee, Rusty Wandall. He joined us by, I said my goodbyes and thanks to Donna, Natalia, and Emily, and Rusty and I headed out again. By now a fair amount of time had elapsed and we knew our odds of reacquiring the owls was slim. Indeed, our search yielded no owls but we still enjoyed being out in the park on this cold, crisp night.

Thank you for reading!

First Mating of the Owls This Season! [short version]

Monday, December 9, 2013

Here is a quick piece about the owls mating tonight for the first time this breeding season!  I hope to write a longer version out in the foreseeable future.

A little after 5:00pm tonight, Sarah flew to The Jungle Gym Tree By The Overlook Hotel Tree.  She had perched in the tallest of The Trio Conifers with Charles.  Their initial duetting was tempered by mobbing groups of American Crows.  Once the crows vacated the premises, Charles and Sarah began to duet in earnest.  She flew out to this exposed spot and the duet hoots were fast, intense and intimate. I had a perfect view of her but I am also aware that Murphy's Law is a powerful force.  True to form, Sarah, in clear view bobbed her head, possibly checking out potential prey, hooted, defecated, hooted again and flew next to Charles.  Moments later, Charles jumped on top of her and they mated.  I missed the initial mating but was able to catch the end of this always brief encounter. The high-pitched vocalization is made by Sarah.



Charles flew off and hooted for a while before disappearing on me. Sarah flew southwest and I ended up following her hunt for a while.  Without the benefit of hearing her hoot, I found her in six different places that had me cover over a mile on foot.  I often wish I could fly or at least teleport.

Last year, the first mating I observed was on December 7, 2012.  The first matings in 2011 and 2010 were November 26 and 30, respectively.  I have seen other first matings in mid and late December.  I checked my records of last year's breeding season and last year I observed and documented them mating 27 times.  That is a record so far.  Let's see what happens this year!  This is always one of the most exciting and challenging times of the year. Damn cold out there but well worth the time and effort!

Thank you for reading!

Thanksgiving Park and Owl Outing

Friday, December 6, 2013

I wrote this post a week or so ago just after Thanksgiving about what I saw in the park on Thanksgiving but due to operator error, much of the post was lost. This is a revised/restored version of that post.

As we enter the holiday season, the owls are busy as well.  We are approaching the mating and nesting season.  If all goes well, Charles and Sarah will mate and nest again for the ninth consecutive season.  As part of the build up to mating and nesting, the owls spend many weeks hooting together in duets.  Duets are thought to be a territorial behavior as well as pair-bonding exercise. This fall has been no different with many nights of great duets.  With time off from work for the holiday, I headed to the park on Thanksgiving to see the owls but first to see some other areas of the park. That is after I had an opening salvo of great Thanksgiving food.

I began in the Steinberg Prairie area, right nearby the Steinberg Ice Rink, which just reopened for the season. Regardless of the time of year, this is always an immensely scenic area of the park and the bright, sunny conditions helped out in this regard.  As always, be sure to double click on the photos to see bigger versions of the photos.

Due to our recent but unmistakable transition to winter, thin patches of ice covered parts of the river system. In some of the open areas, many ducks congregated to feed including three Northern Shovelers.  My friend and owl mentee, Brenda Hente, had seen these visiting ducks one day earlier.  Last winter I saw this species a few times in the exact same part of the river system.  Presumably this area has the food and other conditions just right for this duck with a noticeably larger bill than most ducks.

Leaving the big-billed birds, I came across a stretched out Eastern Grey Squirrel.  I just had to get a photo of it for my squirrel-loving and squirrel-like girlfriend, Wendy Schlegel.  She is a credentialed member of the cognoscenti of the cute.  As I expected, Wendy loved the picture.

I continued on and again a Brenda Hente sighting came to mind.  I arrived at the Victorian Footbridge and saw a bevy of birds including Northern Cardinals, Mallard Ducks, Mourning Doves and White-throated Sparrows.  Not for the first time, I remembered that Brenda had seen Cedar Waxwings in this same vicinity some months earlier.  I had never seen this striking bird in Forest Park before but was happy to see them once in Connecticut a few years ago.  While I did not expect to Cedar Waxwings, I kept looking and saw 4-6 birds making rapid movements among the trees and shrubs along the river system.  With some effort, I managed to get them in my binos and delighted to ID them as Cedar Waxwings.  With noticeably more effort I got them in my camera and few decent shots and video were captured.

I headed over to the fish hatchery ponds hoping to find some more migratory ducks.  This did not come to pass but I did have two fleeting glimpses of a large hawk, likely of the genus Buteo.  A few weeks earlier on November 17 I had my first positive identification (PID) of a Red-shouldered Hawk in Forest Park.  This was a long sought bird in the park for me and I had a great view of him.

I hoped for a repeat sighting but my glimpse of the hawk on Thanksgiving was just too brief to PID it.

As I completed the first half of my loop around the fish hatchery ponds I heard a loud splash near my foot. Unless it was an exceptionally gutsy and cold weather tolerant Bullfrog, I figured I had inadvertently spooked a Muskrat.  I kept my eye out for this aquatic rodent as I began the second half of my pond perambulations. I was soon rewarded with a good view of a Muskrat as he groomed vigorously before swimming away and having some Thanksgiving greens.

I concluded my loop of my ponds by taking a shot of a probable Muskrat lodge that I had seen earlier from a less distinct angle.

From the Lafayette Bridge I saw a Belted Kingfisher for the second time that day from this spot but this time I was able to get a better shot of one of my favorite residents of Forest Park.  The female has a rusty belt across her stomach, which gives the species its name.  In my experience they often do not show the front of the bodies so that you can sex them accurately.  This time was yet another such experience.

On my way to see the owls, I stopped in my tracks when I spotted a large raptor on the goal post of a playing field.  I did not get a full, 360 degree look at this hawk but I am reasonably confident judging by its size and plumage that it was a Red-tailed Hawk.  

I arrived at The Arena, part of the core of the owls' territory.  I heard the charming, chittering call of a Belted Kingfisher. This time I was able to get a good view of its front and determine that it was a female.  

I began looking for Charles in The Arena. The day before I had found Sarah quickly in The Trio Conifers but I could not find Charles.  Finally I heard him hoot from The Arena.  I was not able to determine exactly where he was because he soon flew closer to Sarah in The Wooded Area.  I guessed that he had been in the low hollow in The Third of The Three Trees.  With this in mind and having heard a loud Charles hoot from this vicinity as I engaged in some owl ambassadorship with an enthusiastic park goer,  I began my search at this hollow.  I checked the hollow from a couple of angles but no Charles.  I heard another hoot and knew that he was in The Arena but I still could not spot him.  

With daylight fading, I went to locate Sarah, hoping to find her quickly so that I could devote more time to find the recently invisible Charles.  True to recent form, Sarah was in the tallest of The Trio Conifers doing her best pine cone impression. 

I resumed my search for Charles which was made simultaneously easier and more difficult as he continued to hoot.  I ran into Brenda Hente and we conferred and agreed that he was again being an invisible but audible owl.  We checked places old and new but without success.  Finally, at almost the same time, we spied him in a rarely used tree.  It is a small deciduous tree that still had most of its leaves.  He was perfectly hidden in it. I had walked right past him three times!  For those of you playing at home, this tree is between The Fleur des lis Tree, The Three Trees and The Eastern Branch Tree.

I had never seen the owls use this tree as a daytime perch or roost and only occasionally as an dusk/evening spot.  As part of our transition to winter most of the deciduous trees have shed their leaves.   The owls have taken to perches in conifers or deciduous trees like this one; still possessing many leaves. We marveled at Charles' new spot and wondered if he had been there on Wednesday and if this would be a recurring spot for him.  In subsequent nights, he has not used this perch but I have made to sure to look for him in this slight but useful perch spot.  

Brenda and I continued on to see Sarah, who by now had flown to a recent favorite fly-to perch; The Jungle Gym Tree by The Overlook Hotel Tree.  Charles continued to hoot and she responded in kind, her massive talons evident to all. 

Shortly after, Charles flew to another rarely used tree, one closer to Sarah, and their duet continued.  

They both left the immediate core of their territory on the early side of things.  First Charles and then Sarah blasted off south into The Hilly Wooded Area.  We gave chase, aided by their continued duetting.  I have learned and taught to Brenda their duet spots in this area of the park.  We found them in such a spot and at one point Sarah maneuvered to an open perch high atop of one of these trees.

The duet was getting more intense and intimate with fast hoot exchanges and Charles adding a purring edge to some of his hoots. Either that or he was practicing rolling his Rs for his Spanish class.With Sarah in plain view and with the intense, intimate duetting we hoped mating was next. No such luck. They both blazed away eastward with us following.

We found them duetting in a large deciduous tree near a carton containing gems, precious stones and the like. Sarah flew low and fast southeast before I could get a picture of her and Charles.  Here is Charles in full hoot. Notice the white feathers of his gular sack (throat) and how they add a visual display to the vocal display of hooting.

Charles followed suit southeast but at a much greater altitude.  His clear hooting gave us a good heading to follow and I soon found him from at least two-three hundred yards away.  He was perched at the top of one of the lighting fixtures of an aeronautical pitch.  I had never seen the owls on these particular light fixtures prior to this. It was great to add another man-made structure to the list of artificial perches I have seen them use over the years.

We followed him and got a closer look at Charles in this perch with its commanding view.

Sharp-eyed Brenda found Sarah in neighboring light fixture and before I could take her picture, she flew over to Charles and they continued their duet. While their duetting does not have some of the dancing behavior that other birds have, given the owls' perch you could say that they were tripping the light fantastic.

They duetted for a while before they each flew northwest.  Sarah went first and I managed to catch some of her awesome and simultaneously ephemeral flight on video.



We again followed and we heard Charles hoot from not too far away.  Our search continued but we did not see them again that night.  The night before Brenda and I followed them a mile northwest from their perch spots. This night they went a half mile southeast.  Definite territorial re-proclamation, declaration, border guarding, etc.  We left the park to our respective homes.  I eagerly joined Wendy for a larger closing salvo of Thanksgiving food.  It was great to see the owls but great also to return to hearth and home.

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you in the park soon!

Owl Update, The Last Public Talks of 2013, and Owls Hunting

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Charles and Sarah continue their autumnal activities of vigorous duets to re-declare their territory and re-cement their pair bond.  Here they are duetting last night, Charles on the left, Sarah on the right. Be sure to double click on the pictures to see a bigger version.

It is fun and fascinating watching them also vary their perch spots.  Sarah has mostly been perching in The Overlook Hotel Tree but with some variations including for the first time this year, her Autumnal Perch.  I found her there on Monday, November 4.  Here is Sarah in The Overlook Hotel Tree on Saturday, November 2.

 
Notice the leaf on her head.  Was she channeling Julius Caesar? Carmen Miranda?

Charles has been even more variable in his perch spots.  Sometimes he has still been in The Sandwich Tree (his favorite this summer), other times in several different trees near The North-South Path, a couple of times in The AYU Tree and most interestingly, in The Lesser Northern. He perched frequently in a well-hidden spot in this tree, which is next to The Great Northern, in the summer of 2011.  It took me a while to find him in that tree that summer.  I thought he might use it in subsequent summers but he has not.  Only occasionally would I see him there in other seasons.  Here he is in this tree on Saturday, November 2.  You especially have to get the angle right to find him in this perch.

If you look on the left side of my blog, you see that I only have two talks listed for the remainder of 2013. These are the last public talks of 2013 and I hope you can attend one of them! The first one is this Saturday at 11:00am in Clayton, MO at the Mid-County Library Branch of the St. Louis County Library system.  This is my fifth talk for this great library system in 2013.  I am excited for this talk because my girlfriend and I are regular patrons at this location and it is the system's branch closest to Forest Park.  More information and registration information for the talk can be found here. 

I do have several other private talks scheduled for November and December for a wide variety of organizations including the Great Rivers chapter of the Missouri Master Naturalist program (of which I am happily now a member and intern level Missouri Master Naturalist), Wild Bird Rehabilitation, and Captain Elementary School. All in all, I will give 28 talks in 2013, which quadruples the seven I did last year.  Quite chuffed about that!

With the trees losing their leaves it is easier to to follow the owls, reacquire them and watch them hunting.  I did just that last night and had a great time doing so.  Both owls flew from the core of their territory in generally the same direction and only a few minutes apart.  I found Sarah on top of the goal post of one of the park's sports fields.  That was a new man-made spot on which to see them.  Here she is:

Over the years I have seen them on: a softball backstop, three different bridges, a bandstand, three different buildings and a pipe.  These interactions with man-made places and objects are always intriguing. 

Sarah disappeared on me but then I found her in a Sycamore along a lake, a particular hunting perch that Charles often uses.  I had looked in this spot before I saw Sarah on the goal post and no one was there.  So I was pretty sure this was her.

I looked from another angle, one not good for photos, and I was quite confident that it was her.  I stepped onto a rock in the lake to get a better view of her and moments later I saw a large mammal swimming in the lake.  My first thought that it was a giant among Muskrats, then I thought it might be a Beaver (there was one in the park in 2009), but a closer look with my binoculars revealed a striped bushy tail indicating that it was a Raccoon.  I had never seen a Raccoon swim so it was another first for me on the same night.  It was also the second sighting of a Raccoon I had in under week.   

I continued watching Sarah and marveling, not for the first time, at the thrill and privilege of watching them hunt.  They are paragons of patience and observation and when you see them hunt, you understand that this is their time, their place as well as how challenging it is to hunt.  She flew off towards where the lake rejoins the park's river system.  I did not see her land but I know some places from which they hunt in this area.  I soon found an owl in a regularly used Sycamore along the river system. 

I thought it was Sarah but as I watched the owl more, I began to doubt that it was her. The owl looked more like Charles and this is a hunting spot that he uses more than Sarah.  I went to the other side of the river system for a clearer look at the front of the owl and sure enough, it was Charles.

This made me slightly doubt my IDing of Sarah in the first Sycamore by the lake but I am 89.45838% certain that it was Sarah in that tree.  My new view of Charles was a great one and it was exciting to have reacquired both owls.  I soon departed as my own hunger needed addressing.  I returned home and eagerly feasted on one Wendy's famous omelettes, copiously stuffed with spinach, Jack Cheese and bacon.  Yum!

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you at a talk!  

Upcoming Talk, Owl Update and A Scary Squawk!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

The fall continues to be happily busy with many owl talks and prowls.  My next talk is this Saturday, October 12 at 11:00am at the Thornhill Branch of the St. Louis County Library system.  This branch is between Creve Couer and Maryland Heights in the western portion of St. Louis County.  I hope to see you there! I am quite chuffed that this is the fourth of six talks that I am giving this year at different St. Louis County Library locations.  This will be the eighteenth talk I have given in 2013.     My next four talks are listed on the left side of this blog. 

I did four talks in a row this past Sunday, October 6 for the Forest Park Forever Fall Family Funfest. As a volunteer for Forest Park Forever and ever-so-slightly passionate park goer, I am honored to have given talks for this great event for the last few years.   Usually when I give a talk, I wear a sports coat, wool trousers and shiny shoes.  However for this and other talks, I dress as I do when I go out to the park to give a clearer picture of what I do. Here's a picture of me in mid-talk from last Sunday.  

The photo is courtesy of Stephen Schenkenberg, the new Strategic Communications Director of Forest Park Forever.  Many thanks and welcome to Forest Park Forever, Stephen!

It has been almost a month since I last saw one of the owlets, Stuart the youngest, to be precise.  With the owlets well and gone, Charles and Sarah are settling into their early autumn routine of roosting relatively near each other and engaging in duets.  There was and continues to be variations in their perch spots.  Recently, Sarah has returned to her Late Summer/Early Fall perch but even there, variations occur.  Most of the time she is on west side of the tree but recently she has been on the east side of this large tree. Before that she was using a new spot just next to her more habitual roost tree.  Sarah has been consistent with using The Cottonwood/Catalpa as her fly-to perch sometimes with a pause in The Big Dead Tree.  I have even found her perched in the latter on a few nights.  One night, September 29,  was particularly remarkable as she was in this tree well before sunset and I was able to carefully approach and get some memorable shots of her in the setting sun. These shots include some of the best shots I have had the luck to get of her yawning and doing a Double Wing Stretch. Be sure to double click on the pictures to a see a bigger version of them. 

Here she is on the same night in The Cottonwood-Catalpa.  Not only has she been consistent in her use of this tree but so she has been with this particular branch of the tree.

Charles has perched primarily in The Sandwich Tree but he has mixed it up on other nights.  Recently his perches have included Sarah's new spot and a low perch that Stuart used towards the end of the summer. Here he is in mid-hoot in yet another different roosting spot on September 13.

This week there have been some fascinating interactions between Charles and Sarah and Barred Owls and Great Blue Herons. On October 7, I was watching a sleeping Sarah when I heard one or two Barred Owls calling from the other section of woods. These calls woke Sarah and a likewise previously somnolent Charles. The Barred Owl calls lasted a few minutes and then ceased.  I had not heard the Barred Owls call for many weeks, which is not unusual.  I could write a whole chapter about the interactions of these Barred Owls with the Great Horned Owls especially as they live so close to each other and Great Horned Owls are known to kill and eat Barred Owls (among many other owl species).  I preface the following with a big asterisk but for the most part the Charles and Sarah do not spend more than a brief moment in the woods of the Barred Owls.  Only twice have I seen a Barred Owl in The Wooded Area where Charles and Sarah reside.  

Last night, a new development...developed.  I got to The Wooded Area in time to see either Charles or Sarah, I could not tell who, fly from the vicinity of Sarah's Late Summer/Early Fall perch to land in one of The Quartet Conifers.  I then heard a Barred Owl call from the vicinity of The Permanent Puddle, which is right inside of The Wooded Area!  I have no doubt that whichever of the Great Horned Owls it was, that they were reacting vehemently to this intruder in their territory.  I have never heard a Barred Owl call from inside Charles and Sarah's territory.  I think such an intrusion by a Barred Owl is a pernicious move that Charles and Sarah will not tolerate.  While trying to get a better angle on the Great Horned, I lost sight of them.  Neither owl hooted and I looked for both of them without success in a variety of different places.  I went back to look for the other Great Horned Owl but could not find them either.  

I then ran into a runner I had met before named Lloyd. He asked about the owls as he had not seen them since the spring and was keen to hear about them.  As we chatted I kept an eye on The Wooded Area.  My vigilance was rewarded when I saw Charles or Sarah fly a short distance east from the vicinity of The Quartet Conifers. We followed and found the owl in The Jungle Gym Tree Near The Overlook Hotel Tree. It was Sarah and although she used this tree quite a bit in the late summer I had not seen her there for a few weeks. She was not hooting nor had heard any Great Horned Owl calling despite it being right at sunset. Lloyd continued to ask great questions about the owls but then had to depart to finish his run.  Sarah remained in the tree without hooting.  Two Great Blue Herons flew close to her that she did pivoted 180 degrees in the tree. I gave it even money that she would go after one of them but she did not at that point. 

Several minutes later I could tell that Sarah might be ready to fly to her next spot.  I got my camera ready and as she flew and was out of view I heard a blood curdling call that I have never heard before last night
Listen for it at the 17 second mark.  This call literally sent chills down my back it was so intense and palpable. 



I quickly followed her and moments later I saw a Great Blue Heron fly out of The Overlook Hotel Tree.  It was followed by Sarah who was nearby flying  from the vicinity of two jungle gym trees; the one by The Archy Tree and the one by The North-South Path. They both flew towards The Arena.  Was the call I heard Sarah or the Great Blue Heron? Was Sarah attacking the heron physically or was this a vocal warning? Was this the heron reacting towards Sarah?  I do not know.  I knew of the following video of a Great Horned Owl attacking a Great Blue Heron from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for some time. Watching it again makes me think more that the call I heard last night was the heron and not Sarah. 



That said, from my work and research I know that Great Horned Owls have a wide variety of calls.  I have read about calls that I have not heard and there may be some calls I have heard but not read about so far.  I have not had a chance to do a literature review since I heard this call.  The superb owl expert and advocate, Karla (Kinstler) Bloem is doing amazing work in study Great Horned Owl behavior and she has published a paper on their vocalizations. This will be one of the first sources I will consult. I am honored to have corresponded with Karla and I hope she can read this post and give her expert input.  

 As Sarah and the Great Blue Heron flew away I did not hear any additional calls of any type.  I headed down to The Arena and did not hear or see any owl or heron until I saw a Great Horned Owl flying west.  It had been in a tree that Charles had used the previous two nights.  Was this Charles or was it Sarah?  I stopped to talk to a photographer and his son who had seen the owl flying over them.  I headed home simultaneously puzzled, concerned and amazed by what I had seen, heard and not seen.