Birds and Nature

In the top pic the Western Screech Owl is so ready to be released it looks like a runner in the starters position, ready to fly off. And that is what it did. Diana Miller was going to kinda put it up to the nearby evergreen tree but it flew quickly from her hands, around that tree to one just on the other side of the driveway--it knew where it wanted to go. The bottom pic shows the little owl where it basically buried itself in this arborvitae tree-it's wings a little off to the side but it's body standing on a branch a little inside with the protection of it's dense branches. Though it readjusted position a few times (especially when local Am Robins pair saw it in their territory and threw a fit) but remained there about 10-12 feet above the ground in this tree until dark. It is likely it has now left, maybe done some hunting, and refound it's roost tree. This was a fun event. SeEtta

This is Diana Miller who is the Director of the Pueblo Raptor Center holding a Western Screech Owl. It was not acting right plus being mobbed by Blue Jays and a neighbor, Nancy Jordan, fortunately was observing it in her yard and contacted local Wildlife Office Zach Holder. Long story short--I ran into Zach and he told me he was trying to make arrangements for someone to meet him halfway to transport an injured owl to the Pueblo Raptor Center so I volunteered to do the transport. The owl turned out to have a concussion and has been in the Raptor Center for past 3 weeks but was ready to be released. Per protocol raptors are released at or near where they are found. So Diana brought the little guy (yup, a male) back to my 'hood' in the Lincoln Park area of Canon City, CO late this afternoon and is preparing to release him into one of the nearby evergreen trees. The rest of the story above. SeEtta

I took this video clip tonight of what looked to be an adult Western Screech Owl. It is perched about 30 feet overhead which makes it stand out clearly. Again, the soft intra-familiar call can be heard. It was very windy and I would have enjoyed watching the family tonight as this kept the terrible mosquito infestation down but I only saw this owl and none of the others. SeEtta

I brought local birder Jan Swarm out with me last night to see if I could again refind the family of recently fledged Western Screech Owls. I was successful (have found every night but didn't get home from out of town in time to look Thurs night) and we were delighted to see them beginning at 8:45 pm when there was a little light to see them well. But I was surprised when we found 5 owls as I previously had seen only 2 fledglings and an adult. They gave us quite a show as they flew back and forth from tree to tree nearby before flying further away--then we found them again when we went back to our cars as they were in the trees adjacent to where we parked. Though this is a little dark (they really don't like my spot light and I don't like using it on them) but the fledgling is right in the middle of the screen. It emits the soft calls that I have previously heard used by this species when they have young, a gentle intra-family calling. SeEtta

I took these pics of the young Western Screech Owl fledgling this morning with my Canon xti dslr camera (with my 400 mm lens and 1.6 multiplier for not having a full frame camera I have the equivalent of about 640 mm zoom). The top pic is, of course, very cute as the little owl peeks over the crook of the tree at me. The little owl appears to be behaving 'coyly' in the middle pic though really it was just sneaking a peak at this big creature that makes a lot of clicking noise (with my dslr camera). The bottom pic shows how this little owl looks like most of the time as it stays hidden behind the foliage. SeEtta

I got this video clip of the young Western Screech Owl fledgling by digi-scoping it using my Canon s90 point and shoot camera's video mode hand held to my Zeiss spotting scope. SeEtta

Last evening, just at dark, as I watched some bats I heard some vocalizations in the trees that seemed familiar. Soon I saw 2 'figures' (just blurred things flying from a tree). I got out my spotlight and found the source of the continuing vocalizations--a young Western Screech Owl. Though I tried to get pics of the owl lit by my strong spotlight, these were not any good so returned this morning and refound this owl, getting these two pics I digi-scoped through my spotting scope by hand-holding my Canon S90 point and shoot camera over the lens. More to follow. SeEtta