Barred Owl Nesting

Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to witness a family of Barred Owls nesting in a local park about a 10 minute drive from Beau Photo.  I suppose you can say it was a real hoot watching the family, and especially the cute antics of the owlets! I was first told about this particular nest by a regular customer back in April, and I ended up going to photograph the family every day I could!  For the first few days, we observed the female sitting in the nest, rarely coming out, and the male would come bring her food. I was certain Ma was sitting on eggs, so it was just a waiting game until the eggs hatched. During the last week of April, we noticed Ma’s behaviour suddenly change – it looked like she may be feeding babies! If there were owlets in the nest, it would be another week or so until they would grow big enough to see.  With great anticipation, myself, some other photographers and local residents waited with baited breath for our first peek of the owlet/s….and then it happened!  On May 2, we finally got our first glimpse of an owlet! For a week,  we only saw one owlet, but I suspected there was another one, as it looked like Ma was feeding two beaks.  A few days later, we saw the two owlets together.

 

The excitement from the local residents was palpable…this was the first time most of them has ever seen an owl, never mind a baby!  News spread through word of mouth and local Facebook groups – there were more and more people gathering everyday to welcome the latest family to move into the neighbourhood.

While nesting, the female will stay in the nest and rarely leave the nest when the owlets are very young.  We witnessed Pa bringing in fresh food for Ma and the owlets, a balanced meal of squirrels, mice & rats. Ma will then rip apart the prey and distribute the food to her owlets.

 

As the owlets got older, they gained weight and their downy feathers grew out giving them a cute, fluffy look.

On May 21, we saw the first owlet leave the nest (fledge) with the second owlet following soon after.  Once fledged, the owlets will never return to the nest again  – instead, they will gradually move away from the nest site as their wing muscles get stronger and are able to fly farther. Newly fledged owlets cannot fly very far yet, as their primary flight and tail feathers are not yet developed.  They are only able to make short hops from branch to branch, tree to tree, but will gradually be able to make longer flights as they get older and their feathers grow out. The owlets will still be dependant on their parents for the next couple of months for food as they learn how to fly and hunt.

 

Eventually, as the owlets became stronger flyers, it became increasingly difficult to find them, and by September they had seemingly left the area.