Yep, it's that time when our interest turns to breeding bird activity and
obsertvations. I have a question:
This morning I found three pre-fledgling Barred owls, they were begging and
very intersting to watch. But I have to wonder how they got where I found
them... They were in a medium size ash tree, and obviously it was not the
location where they came from in their nest. Nearby were several large
sycamores that were most likely where the nest may have been. But how did
they get to where I found them? They were still incapable of flight, and were
about 35-40 feet up in the tree. Has anyone heard of an owl parent removing
owlets if they become too big for the nest? I wondered if a parent removed
them from the nest and took them to a nearby tree so they could continue to
feed them until they could fly. Hmmm.
Regarding the house wren, we have a very similar deal with them in southern
PG County. They are quite uncommon here, and I would say rare up until just
a few years ago. Perhaps they may be spreading in southern MD now. I
confirmed them in two Atlas blocks just last year, having missed them in my
southern PG Atlas blocks for most of the Atlas prior to that. And during the
2006 May Count, I had them for the first time ever here (Jug Bay), at least for
me. And last year I had my first one ever at our house, singing in May for two
days before it left, and then I saw one here in fall during migration.
Cheers-
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD
|