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Monday, May 20, 2013

Triplets!!!


So cool that we can walk 20 yards and find 3 baby barred owls 
playing in the park.  This is the third night in a row that they have been at the east end of the park and if it was like last year, they will be hanging around for the next month or so. Barred owls usually have a cache of 1 to 3 eggs and this is the second time since we have known about the owls that Nellie had triplets. We assume it is Nellie but honestly, with so many owls that have encroached on her territory, it's hard to know. There appears to be another pair that dominate Hermitage Court. They appear to fight a lot and then make up so there is a lot of monkey hooting going on and cigarette butts litter the street. 

Our owls (who appear to be Nellie and a new mate) tend to hang out in Edgehill Park. The new male has an abbreviated hoot. We can only guess that he has something else going in his favor. 

To find the owls (best time is dusk), listen for the crows to make a ruckus or the cardinals or you can listen for the babies crying or the parents hooting back and forth-It's your turn to feed them. That last mouse was big enough for two turns, it's your turn.

Having watched them in the box, owls do have distinctive personalities. Two of these babies are bad asses.  They each went deliberately into a tree which was filled with cardinals aggressively tweeting (literally as it should mean) at them. They held their ground until they had had enough then moved on.
Does this sign make me look fierce?

He is stalking some cardinals.

This is mom. She is tired.