Memories

HAPPY EASTER weekend, everyone!

This morning, I posted two photos first and then posted this main photo separately, hoping that this one will show up as my main photo for everyone. So annoying when one of my other two photos shows up as my main photo when some people have their Flickr photostream set to show just one photo per Contact.

Almost one year ago, on 15 April 2015, my parking lot was going to be spring-cleaned, which meant that all cars had to be out of the lot by 7:30 am. I didn't have a 2015 street parking permit, so I had to leave home at 7:30 and find something that would use up the few hours before my volunteer shift. I didn't want to risk being late for that, so decided to stay within the city rather than go driving some backroads. The owls in Fish Creek Park ended up being my destination. I had only been there twice in many weeks and seen Mom on my first visit and then Mom with two of her three owlets on the second. When I arrived on 15 April, there was no sign of the "paparazzi" - I had been expecting there to be at least a few photographers and people out for a walk. This time, I was able to see all three owlets as well as Mom and Dad. Late afternoon, after my volunteer shift, I called in again for a while on my way home.

This was a busy Mom with three young ones – not sure which owlet this is, with Mom right behind it.. Dad always sat in one or other of the nearby trees, keeping careful watch over his mate and owlets. He would hunt at night and brings food to the rest of his family.

When I was on a birding walk the other week, we were horrified when we discovered that some of the huge, beautiful old coniferous trees near this nesting tree had been reduced to only tree trunk with a few sawn-off, bare branches. I would have thought that this was so wrong to do, destroying the owls' area. No sign of the owls nesting here this winter/spring, which is hardly surprising.

"With its long, earlike tufts, intimidating yellow-eyed stare, and deep hooting voice, the Great Horned Owl is the quintessential owl of storybooks. This powerful predator can take down birds and mammals even larger than itself, but it also dines on daintier fare such as tiny scorpions, mice, and frogs. It’s one of the most common owls in North America, equally at home in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards, cities, and almost any other semi-open habitat between the Arctic and the tropics.

Great Horned Owls are nocturnal. You may see them at dusk sitting on fence posts or tree limbs at the edges of open areas, or flying across roads or fields with stiff, deep beats of their rounded wings. Their call is a deep, stuttering series of four to five hoots." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/id

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_horned_owl