The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note of any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, fish, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located.
Seattle. March 7, 2013.
Last year the Forest's Barred Owls never revealed themselves during nesting season:
May 6, 2012.
By this time last year I'd written about the Forest's Barred Owls more than once. How they hunted the Douglas Squirrels and how, if you listened closely in the right places you might hear the hissy whine of a mama owl inside a nest tree calling to her mate for food.
This year I've had nothing. Regular visits to both nesting sites have been fruitless; no activity, no vocalizations, not even any crow mobs in the vicinity. Once or twice I've heard an owl call out from deeper in the woods: Who cooks for you.. Who cooks for youaaaa! but not recently. None of the other regular walkers have had any owl luck either. We've started to wonder if maybe the owls just need a break this year.
Fact is, over the years the southern pair has had a heck of a time with their real estate. Snags fall, and this pair of owls has managed to pick the ones that are doomed, not once, not twice, but three times over. Last year they managed to fledge two kids just a week before their snag fell, once again.
Broken Barred Owl nest snag.
The remains of the Barred Owl nest snag, with Bill-the-Dog.
Over the past two weeks the regular walkers have heard owls calling from a hidden place just west of here. We're hoping that this pair has found a more stable piece of real estate.
The northern pair seems to have chosen more wisely, though we do worry about them. Up until last year we could count on finding them every year in a mature yet thriving Douglas Fir. This tree, however, stands very close to an ancient Douglas Fir that has hosted a Bald Eagle nest for close to 30 years now. We've watched the owl branchlings tottering through the canopy of that elder tree, oblivious to the nest of hungry eagle babies and experienced eagle parents only 20 or 30 feet above them. So far no owlets have ended up as eaglet meals.
There was no owl activity at the mature Douglas Fir last year. We took turns watching, listening, waiting. There was nothing to report. Nothing until in late May, when the crows brought me to three Barred Owl branchlings that I couldn't see. The northern pair had fooled us - by silence, by serendipity, or by relocation.
A week ago I stopped to wait for Bill-the-Dog as he investigated the things he needs to investigate and that I will never understand. We were just by the place where I'd first found last year's branchlings. I used the time to peer up and into the forest. There are snags here, and the old trees that might have the proper holes or crevices for a Barred Owl nest.
Bill continued his investigation. I continued my peering. A crow yelled.
One Barred Owl responded. A male. Who-cooks-for-you! Who-cooks-for you!? I moved up the path to find him, and failed.
His mate returned the call. Who-cooks for you. Who-cooks-for-youaaahh!
She was deeper in the canopy, between the male and the old Doug Fir. I could not find her either.
Bill continued his search, snuffling in the duff. A horde of crows streamed in from all directions, yelling. The owls fell silent.
We stopped there again today. Bill returned directly to his place of interest and I sat on a log, comfortably waiting. There was silence for a long time.
The male speaks first. He is nearby, and I still cannot find him. The female responds, again from deeper in the canopy and muffled somehow, but this time she speaks the hissy whine that says "I need food." She says it three times, so quietly, and I understand that I will not see her today no matter how hard I look. She is sitting on eggs, perhaps in a new place that may well be inaccessible to the humans who watch and wait. I call to Bill. He leaves the thing that so interests him, returns to my side. We walk on.
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Barred Owls incubate their eggs between 28-35 days. Once hatched, the kids grow in the nest for another 28-33 days before venturing out into the real world. The regular walkers know to watch for baby owls around Mother's Day. By my calculations, this nest's babies should appear right on time.
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What's happening in your natural neighborhood? Owls? Butterflies? Snow? Everyone is welcome to add their observations to the bucket.
I'll be here most of the day.