Even
though Ward and June delivered more than 15 meals to the owlets last
night, June decided to ignore the distant sound of crows and try for one
more in daylight. Five minutes after leaving the nest she came back in a
cloud of crows that were far too close for comfort. The crows are faster
than June, but barred owls have a special technique for evading enemies.
They are able to fly through the densest undergrowth by maneuvering and
tucking their wings at just the right time to get through very tight
places; while the crows are better suited to more open terrain. This
worked for June until she approached the nest and saw the higher flying
crows headed straight for the nest box. She was so desperate to get there
first that she flew almost straight up towered the rail where she crashed
into two crows. She is seen here trying to recover by clinging to the rail
first with her beak and later with her talons as she flapped her
wings desperately. She pulled herself up and made it to the door just as
another crow crashed into her back. In spite of all this, she only entered
for a brief turnaround to come out and face them from the doorway. From
this spot she was safe because they could not get behind her and would not
risk being grabbed by her sharp talons in a frontal attack.
Inside
the nest, the owlets were doing their part by looking up at the action and
snapping their beaks so rapidly that it sounded like they were cooking
popcorn. When the crows finally gave up, June backed into the nest and
preened them for about an hour, but there would be no daylight feedings
today. She did not try again until just after sunset when she and Ward
again started to bring in food at an unbelievable rate. The owlets are now
three weeks old and it seems their appetites are never satisfied. Emmett
and Ernie spent much of the day churning up the woodchips with their
"frogman" imitation where they lie down on their bellies and propel
themselves around the nest by churning their feet and throwing up a wake
of woodchips. They threw the woodchips all over themselves and Abigail as
they left no chip unturned and were a mess when June entered to preen
them. In spite of the crow's efforts, the owlets still appear to be
getting more than enough food and are growing rapidly.