The Owls' First Mating Of The Season Observed Last Night!

Don't let my many months away from my updating my blog (aka business as usual for the world's worst blogger) fool you.  The owls continue to fascinate and delight and I continue spend many hours observing and documenting them and doing abundant outreach work.

An epic highlight occurred last night-the Charles and Sarah mated for, to the best of my knowledge, the first time in this breeding season!  In the last two breeding seasons, they mated earlier than I had ever seen before, November 26, 2011 and November 30, 2010. Before these years, they had begun to mate in December. As we got into late November, I began hoping to see them mate.   As I approach my seventh year of watching these owls, I know a decent amount about these owls and Great Horned Owls in general.  However,  there is a galaxy of knowledge yet unknown about GHOs.  Case in point, their behavior over the past few weeks has vigorously challenged my knowledge.  This behavior has made me even balder from all the head scratching I've done!   Among the unusual and interesting behavior, for these owls, has included consecutive nights of intensive territorial duetting (hooting as a pair) in a space occupied by Barred Owls followed by nights of little initial duetting with each owl going in a different direction early in the evening only to reunite for more typical duetting. On two nights, one of them this week, it took me over an hour to find Sarah.  Each time I did not know where she had perched as I found her duetting with Charles away from her usual perch sites.  As in years past they have checked out previously used nest sites, which I have not read about but I suspect that there is some ritual-esque side to this behavior as a way of preparing for another breeding season.  Other nights have been more typical but through it all no mating.

Due to the severe drought that we had here and occurred throughout much of the U.S., I was open to the possibility that they would not nest. Great Horned Owls will not nest if conditions are not right-mostly prey populations being low because it takes so much prey to support a breeding pair and their progeny.  Studies by Dwight G. Smith and others show that nesting attempts and success track well with rainfall and/or the health of prey populations.  The drought produced noticeable nasty effects in Forest Park.  Despite heroic efforts made by horticultural crew of Forest Park Forever and the parks/forestry/rec department of the City of St. Louis, many trees were lost this summer.  I've noticed fewer Eastern Grey Squirrels and Eastern Cottontail Rabbits, two staples of the owls' diet, in the park.  Last year a glade of oaks in the owls territory was so fruitful in producing hard mast (acorns) that this glade was rife with Eastern Grey Squirrels. I would often see 10-20 individuals with such frequency that I dubbed the glade Squirrel Land.  This year, Squirrel Land has been relatively unoccupied by these arboreal rodents.  The needles of Charles' Favorite Conifer  are not their usual ripe green but a blanched and thirsty orange.  Charles has taken up using another conifer in The Quartet Conifers lately and we all hope is favorite conifer flourishes once more.

With all this context, I arrived to observe them cautiously optimistic that the owls would mate in the near future.  Charles was in his new conifer and Sarah was in the tallest of The Trio Conifers.  Sarah has mostly been alternating between this tree and Sarah's Autumnal Perch.  They began to duet but the duet came to a stop after a while.  I thought that one or both of them might have a pellet on the way up, a process that will prevent them from hooting.  No pellets were ejected, it was just a pause in the duet. The duet resumed and Sarah flew off to The Arena landing in one of The Three Trees.  Her departure was on the early side, another thing that she and Charles have done in these past few weeks of interesting, puzzling behavior.  Charles made his own way to The Arena, landing somewhere in The 06/09/11 Nest Tree.  I too headed to The Arena and found Sarah in The First of The Three Trees.  (As always be sure to double click on the photos to see a larger image)

Charles was ensconced in The 2011 Nest Hollow.  They had each visited this hollow numerous times this fall including several times within the last week.

Charles was staccato-hooting.  I used to call this Choo-choo Hooting until I learned the term staccato hooting from Karla Kinstler, one of the premier GHO experts especially regarding their vocalizations.  Staccato hooting indicates excitement.  Most times I've heard Charles this has been just before or after mating.  This was the second time in about the last week that he was in this hollow staccato hooting with Sarah nearby.  Unfortunately, while I heard it with my own ears, on both nights this hooting was very soft and my distance from him too great to capture it on video.   What was different last night was that several times he interrupted his near constant staccato hooting with a loud regular hoot.  Over a celebratory meal later at Dressel's Pub, I explained it to my girlfriend, Wendy Schlegel, that it was like hearing Miles Davis playing constant 1/16th notes before going into a more conventional melody of longer notes.  Sarah responded to these hoots but Charles remained in the hollow.  Sarah went flying off east well out sight.  Charles flew east a shorter distance landing in another favorite Cottonwood near the river system.  He then followed Sarah but did not go as far.  Charles landed high up in some tall conifers that grow right within one of the park's cultural institutions. 

He began to hoot intensely.  I removed my hat to hear better but try as I might I could not hear Sarah even though it the night was still.  Imagine my delight when a few minutes later Sarah came flying back and landed in the same tree as Charles.  In this picture Sarah is on the left and Charles is on the right. 

The duetted intently but without the intensity that usually precedes mating.  Unfortunately, I was right but thankfully only for the time being.  Charles blasted off again heading east and out of sight.  Sarah waited a brief spell before heading out in the same direction.  I had to move quickly as there was no direct path to get where they had gone.  Damn, I wish I could fly or at least teleport to avoid these long way round journeys.  I finally got to a point where I might observe them and I heard Charles hooting loudly.  He was in one of the main natural areas in the park and within a specific section of this natural area that I call Raccoonville.  I've had many of my best Raccoon sightings in this area with its large Cottonwoods with hollows and snags that the Raccoons nest in, much like Charles and Sarah do with their own Cottonwoods.  One of these Raccoon sightings in Raccoonville involved Sarah making a predatory attempt on one of the Raccoons.  (Yes, GHOs can and will eat Raccoons and I have seen several such attempts over the years-intense and memorable to put it mildly!)  

I began to hear Sarah reply.  She was on the other side of the river system from Charles.  I was about 100-150 yards away from Charles and I made my way down a hill while watching and listening and filming.  Care was taken in my descent! Sarah flew over towards Charles and I heard the duetting go up a gear.  A few seconds later I heard the high pitched vocalizations that Sarah makes when they mate.  Listen carefully between the 29-32 second marks. 

Fantastic!  Awesome!  It was great to finally observe them mating this season after the many hour spent watching and hoping.  Now mating does not mean nesting necessarily but it is a great lead in that direction!  

I headed into Raccoonville hoping to reacquire them. As I did I thought that it was a touch rude that the owls had mated in Racconville, not only do they hunt the owls hunt the Raccoons but they have mate in the Raccoons' neighborhood!  In my excitement I ended up walking right past Sarah who was perched high up in one of the most prominent trees in this area.  I found her later as I made my around the northeast portion of Raccoonville.  This was likely the tree in which they had mated so it was great to find her even as I kicked myself for my earlier haste.  A nice couple was passing by and I conducted some owl ambassadorship with them.  They were thrilled to see an owl for the first time and were amazed by her large size.  While talking with the couple, Sarah vanished.  We said our goodbyes and I went back walking through a restored prairie in the natural area, hoping to reacquire the owls.  I came to the end of the prairie and turned back to where a lake empties back into the river system.  Near some riffles at this aquatic intersection are some favorite hunting spots of Charles and I had seen him there recently with my friend and owl mentee Brenda Hente.  My ESL (Experience, Skill and Luck) were rewarded last night as there at end of a Sycamore was Charles.  He was facing me but something behind caught his attention behind me.  His head did a full 180 and he even head bobbed in this position.  He pivoted his body and flew off east-I hope his hunt was successful!  After a night of many highlights, I decided to head home.  Wendy kindly suggested a celebratory meal and we had a great one at  Dressels Pub.  Thanks for reading!

Upcoming Talk On The Owls

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I’m excited about this post. A few months ago I received a great honor. I was asked to give the keynote note address at the annual awards dinner for the St. Louis Audubon Society. I eagerly accepted and now the announcement has been made in the March issue of the Society’s newsletter, Tail Feathers. The dinner is on Saturday, April 14. All of the details and registration information can be seen here as well as a picture of Sarah taken by your humble speaker. Registration ends on April 1, so register soon and avoid becoming an April fool. I hope to see as many owl friends, old and new, as possible at this august occasion.

This will be the second time I have given a talk for St. Louis Audubon Society. The first talk was held in January 2011 at the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center in Forest Park. The audience of around eighty people was a keen and supportive group and the talk went splendidly.

Like my first talk I will talk about Great Horned Owls both in general and Charles and Sarah in particular. I will again show pictures and videos to illustrate some of the different behaviors I have seen. The talk will differ slightly as I will conclude with a bit of a call to arms. One thing that my work with the owls and the sharing thereof continuously demonstrates to me is that people want to connect more with nature. It is up those knowledgeable about nature, be they birders, naturalists, gardeners, to help other people connect more with with nature. I will offer methods, suggestions and advice on how to help people achieve this greater connection with the natural world.

Thank you to Jim Wilson, Chris Ferree, David Rogles, Mitch Leachman and everyone in St. Louis Audubon for their gracious invitation and support. I will do my utmost to deliver a compelling and educational talk. At the very least it will be an opportunity for me to prove that I do not always wear outdoor clothes, carry a backpack and have cameras and binoculars hanging from my neck. As a tease/incentive to attend the talk, below you will find two pictures that I will likely use for my talk. Be sure to double click on them to see a larger image. Thank you for reading and I look forward to seeing you on April 14!


Sarah feeding Dalton and Monica on March 31, 2011



Charles in The 06-09-11 Nest Tree, December 25, 2010

Names For The 2012 Owlets!

Friday, March 2, 2012.

After watching for further signs of three owlets for over a week I made the call that there are two owlets this year. These two owlets are the fourteenth and fifteenth owlets that I have seen Charles and Sarah have in the over six years and seven breeding seasons I have been privileged to have seen.

As in recent years when the owlets have numbered two, I have picked names belonging to recently deceased beings as an in memoriam tribute and homage. The older, larger owlet further distinguished at this point by its larger facial disc is named Christopher after the late writer Christopher Hitchens. Christopher Hitchens died at the age of 62 on December 15, 2011. An elegant, penetrating, erudite and prolific writer on a vast array of topics. These qualities combined with his strongly voiced and often iconoclastic opinions made him many admirers and detractors. I certainly disagree with many of his conclusions and opinions but I admire many of them as well as his conviction and candor.

I had not thought of naming an owlet after him until I was reading his memoir Hitch-22: A Memoir in January. On pages 333-335 he submits himself to "The Proust Questionnaire" to offer some insights on himself. When asked what his favorite bird is his response of "The owl" elicited a stunning but pleasant "Eureka" moment from me. Sarah was already nesting. I thought that, depending on the number of owlets she and Charles had, I would name of of them Christopher.

The younger, smaller owlet currently with the smaller facial disk is named Velvet after my mom's late female black Labrador retriever mix. After nineteen years of loyal companionship and a tough last few months of life, Velvet was put down on October 14, 2011. It was the best decision for her but it was still a tough one and a sad day for my mom and the rest of my family. My girlfriend Wendy had the great idea to name one of the owlets Velvet as a way to remember Velvet the sweet, soft-furred dog and to connect the name with the velvety softness of owl feathers. I asked my mom her thoughts and for her blessing on the idea and my mom gave it an enthusiastic green light. Thanks, Wendy and Mom!

Now for some pictures of these beauties with and without Sarah. Be sure to double-click on the to see a bigger image.

On February 20, 2012 from left to right: Velvet, Christopher and Sarah.



On February 21, Velvet on left, Christopher on right, Sarah swooping out of the nest.


With Sarah out of the nest the owlets have more room to move. Yawning, head bobbing and first feather grooming that I have seen this year.



On February 25 with Sarah in the background Christopher yawns while Velvet does an Escalator Stretch (the stretching of a wing and leg on the same side of the body).


To conclude on February 29, Sarah is again in the background but Velvet is now on the left and Christopher on the right. It's amazing how fast they grow. Thanks for reading!

OWLETS!!

Monday, February 6, 2012

After many days of seeing hints that hatching occurred (Sarah sitting higher in the hollow by the day and looking down within the hollow), tonight we saw two owlets!

After a day whose beginning was certainly "a case of the Mondays", arriving at the park was especially welcome. Sarah was even higher in the nest than Sunday but despite looking from several different angles and altitudes no owlets were visible. Charles was in his favorite conifer; one of the the three perch spots he has employed the most this nesting season.

I soon ran into several owl friends, new and old, including Kim and Anna Rois, Terry Bond and my great owl friends and mentees, Brenda Hente, Barb Brownell and Chris Gerli. Today marks a special day for Brenda: it is the one year anniversary of the first time she came to Forest Park for an owl prowl to see Charles and Sarah. Adapting from my term "owliversary", Brenda has dubbed this day her "prowliversary."

Charles began to hoot and we all watched Sarah carefully. Barb and Chris departed to check on another pair of GHOs that they have been focusing on now for several weeks and others of us have checked out regularly.

Sarah emerged from the nest and flew to The Fleur de lis Tree. All attention went to the nest and we soon saw a small, young owlet's white/grey downy body rising up above the bottom lip of the hollow. Watch at about the 5-6 second mark:



Amazing! Here's the first still I snapped. Be sure to double click on it to see a larger image.


Sweet! It's an owlet at least week old and maybe as much as three weeks old. Sarah started nesting on December 17. The average incubation period for Great Horned Owls is 33 days. In addition, Sarah seems to have a one-two week period before she lays the eggs when she is in the nest and settling down to nesting while building up to it simultaneously.

We kept looking and we all saw a second owlet. Unfortunately, I did not get a good photo/video evidence of the second owlet tonight. But here is some more video of the first owlet:



Sarah returned to the nest and I got a shot of her at the nest with the owlet looking up at her.


Charles went flying off east and I reacquired him.

He moved to a softball backstop and I was able to get some pictures of him with a St. Louis landmark and my favorite building in town, in the background.

He eventually flew off east and I headed for home. What a night!

Thanks for reading!

6th Owliversary!!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

I reached a new milestone tonight. Tonight marks the sixth year since I started to observe and document the owls with great consistency. After first observing the owls one evening in late August-early September (I wish I had written down the exact date), I had a few months of inconsistent sightings. Thanks to networking, research and dogged persistence, I began to see the owls consistently on December 29, 2005. I did write this date down and since then it has been my anniversary or owliversary. I remember hitting the one year mark and then the two year and so on. Reaching the five year mark last year was a big deal. With another year on and the six year mark reached, I am not shy to say that is a big deal again. Observing and documenting Charles and Sarah and their progeny is a great joy as well as a great deal of work and dedication.

Due to my inability with all but the most basic mathematics and my early exposure to Monty Python, accountancy has never been my strong suit. That said, after reaching another year of observing, documenting and sharing these amazing owls, a little number crunching is worthwhile. From December 29, 2010 through December 29, 2011, the following occurred:

I went to the park to watch the owls on 279 nights aka 76% of the nights in the year. Travels in February, April, and June were welcome journeys that renewed mind and body but also cut down on the overall attendance. April and July 2011 had the fewest visits with 19 apiece. December 2011 has the highest number of visits with 29 so far and more to come. The longest consecutive stretch of visits started on November 12, 2011 and has not met its end so far. In the interest of full disclosure, some of these visits have been brief, to say the least. On several occasions time has been short and I stopped by with enough time to find the owls, count heads, and wish them well. Conversely, several visits have lasted over two hours and one went about four hours in length. My success rate in finding the owls in this twelve month period has been one hundred percent. The previous high was nintey-seven percent.

In the last twelve months I have seen the owls hoot, hunt, duet, fly, hop on the ground, mate, nest, raise two owlets, get mobbed and chased by other birds and animals, amaze onlookers, baffle, confuse, bewilder and stupefy me, buzz me at low altitudes, eject pellets, defecate, perch in places new and old, and much more. I gave well received talks on the owls to the St. Louis Audubon Society, middle school students of Emmanuel Lutheran School, The Men's Club and Ladies' Guild of Emmanuel Lutheran Church and Forest Park Forever's Fall Family Funfest. I have led owl prowls for many individuals and groups including Washington University in St. Louis and Alberici Construction. Articles on the owls and my work with them were printed this year in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Show-me Missouri (a quarterly travel magazine) and The University News (the student newspaper of St. Louis University). I continue to teach to and learn from dedicated friends and owl mentees. Their great work, superb questions and quick learning keeps me on my toes and I am proud of them all. Thanks to them, I have also seen other pairs of Great Horned Owls, which is a great aid to my understanding of the species. The number of books I have on owls now exceeds thirty volumes after starting with just one book a few months prior to my first spotting of the owls. The number of views of the videos of the owls and other Forest Park wildlife on my YouTube page is now over fourteen thousand. I received countless kind words, kudos and compliments. Some of my favorites were from folks who thought that seeing the owls or hearing a talk on them would be dull as dishwater but then found themselves wanting to see and learn more about these amazing animals. It has been a great year.

To mark the occasion of my sixth owlivesary, I tried to see as many owls as I could today in Forest Park. I hoped to find seven owls, four Great Horned Owls and three Barred Owls. I found five in all, four Great Horned Owls and one Barred Owl. My girlfriend, Wendy, joined me on this quest and her presence and help was especially appropriate. Of all the many supportive owl friends, mentees and fans, Wendy's support of my work with the owls has been the deepest, the most rewarding and the longest lasting. She has and continues to be the biggest booster of my work and on so many different fronts. From finding new books and articles on owls, to reviewing my stills and video from each night's visit, and generously providing me with new optical and photographic devices, she is truly amazing. I often make good-natured fun of Wendy's fair weather preferences when I lead owl prowls or give talks on the owls. Thankfully, it was an unseasonably warm December day and we reveled in feeling the warm air on our exposed ears and hands. Wendy delighted in seeing all five owls and her enthusiasm was infectious.

I returned to watch Charles and Sarah and they amazed as always. After several nights of not seeing them mate, they mated no more than fifty feet from me. I also had several excellent exchanges of owl and park ambassadorship. Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing you in the park and sharing the owls with you in the coming year!

Sarah Takes A Drink!

Saturday, December 23, 2011

Well, last night along with my friend and owl mentee, Brenda Hente, I saw Sarah take a drink in the waterway. This was only the fourth time I have seen her drink in the almost six years that I have been observing and documenting her and Charles. Unlike the previous times there was still a fair amount of daylight left so I could film it. She flew out of the hollow in The 08/12 Nest Tree, where she is currently nesting, to The Middle Tree and after a few minutes she flew down to the waterway. My initial thought was that she was making a predatory attempt along the banks of the waterway but no, she began to drink. My still photos were poor but I got some solid video of the whole process. Watch and enjoy!

Notice how cautious she was while drinking: short sips of water and in between sips she is looking around constantly on the alert. Charles continued to hoot as they had been duetting prior to her drinking in the waterway.

Great Horned Owls and other birds of prey get most of their liquid needs from the prey they eat but if need be they will drink water. I wondered why she was drinking water now and Brenda made a great point that since Sarah is nesting and getting ready to lay eggs, her need for liquid is probably heightened.

The night continued in superb fashion. The owls resumed their duet and mated. It was the twenty-third time (in twenty-seven nights) I have seen them mate this breeding season. We followed Charles when he went off to hunt and were able to reacquire him a few times thanks to ESL (Experience, Skill, Luck). We were getting ready to leave the park, when Charles returned to The Middle Tree and made a food exchange with Sarah. It looked like a small rodent or bird. They duetted some more before Charles headed out to resume hunting. A great night with the owls. Thanks for reading!

Sarah Is Nesting!!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Three weeks after the first time the owls mated this breeding season, Sarah has chosen this year's nest location! She is in the 2008 Nest Tree. Now that she has chosen this tree it is now The 08/12 Nest Tree. The nest tree is again a Cottonwood tree and again it is a hollow. It is a beautiful spot, easy to see into and one of my favorite spots in which they have nested.

As you may have guessed they nested in this same spot in 2008, the first year I saw them have three owlets: Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They also had three owlets in 2010: Reese, Malcolm and Dewey. When they nested in this spot in 2008, I was able to see owlets at an earlier age than I have ever done before or since then. We were able to see them fledge over a magical multi-night period.

If you know where this tree is keep a good, safe and respectable distance away from it. At least 50-100 feet. Female Great Horned Owls are notoriously aggressive when nesting and you do not want to be attacked by an owl that can kill and eat Raccoons, Canada Geese and other large and powerful animals.

During the fall I saw Sarah visit this location a few times and Charles several times. They both visited this nest location more than any other and I was leaning heavily to this spot. For variety's sake, I may have preferred a new yet unused spot but I am very happy she has chosen this spot. As in many things in a mated pair's life (be it owls or humans), the male participates in the process but the female makes the decision. Male Great Horned Owls play real estate agent by showing different nesting spots to the females but the females sign the big, stinking check.

This is the second time I have seen them re-use the exact same nesting spot. In 2009, they nested exactly where they had in 2006. Last year, they nested in a different spot in this same tree and it is now known as The 06/09/11 Nest Tree. In each of these years, they had two owlets.

It all started yesterday with a call from my friend and owl-mentee, Brenda Hente. She had stopped by the park for a quick look after running some errands. She found Charles in his favorite conifer but had not found Sarah. We agreed to meet up in the afternoon after I finished my own errands. I got to the park and met Brenda and sure enough was in his favorite conifer and he had begun to stretch and hoot. Here's him in mid-escalator stretch (stretching one of his legs and wings). Be sure to double click on the photos to see larger versions of each shot.


Brenda said she needed my eagle eyes to find Sarah who again had remained undetected. Thankfully my eagle (or owl) eyes have been working especially well lately. I've had some great long-distance naked eye spottings of the owls in recent weeks. I asked Brenda where she had looked and we went from there. We checked out a potential nest spot that both owls had checked out on a memorable night in September. I had never seen them visit this hollow and it was among the contenders for this year's nest spot. We didn't see anyone there so we headed to The 2008 Nest Tree. From about 60 yards away I saw with my naked eye what looked like something in the hollow. We raised our binoculars and sure enough it was Sarah!

We were thrilled especially as we had been thinking that they would start nesting soon! We got closer and closer and got some great views of her in this amazing spot. What a beauty!


As you can see it's a big hollow and you can see well into it. Another fascinating aspect of it is that it faces west and gets big doses of afternoon sun as you see below.



We took a closer look and got the unconcerned but undivided attention of Sarah.


The whole time we were watching her in the nest we kept uttering superlatives and our faces were fixed with goofy grins. It is a thrill, privilege and honor to witness such a big development in these amazing animals' lives.

She eventually climbed out of the hollow and flew to The Fleur de lis Tree, much as she had when she nested in this general area in 2008, 2009 and 2011. After a slowly developing duet, she and Charles mated. They have been very busy mating owls this year. I have seen them mate 18 times in 22 days including two nights when they mated twice in the same night. Much more to write about and share about the mating including some good videos. Thanks for reading and if you want to go on an owl prowl (tour), just give contact me at mglenshaw@gmail.com !