Ernie
knew just what to do when his turn came. He was all alone on a cold and
windy day, but had learned from watching Emmett and Abigail struggle two
days earlier. After leaping to the rail, he flapped his wings and walked
around for a little while to gain his equilibrium before heading for the
best path to the roof. He first jumped from the far end of the rail to the
top of the camera box as Abigail had, and then stopped for five minutes to
think about the bigger jump to the roof. This is the jump where Seymour
(last year's youngest owlet) had given up and fluttered to the ground.
Ernie, however, would not give up so easily.
He
made a giant leap that put him right in the middle of the roof where he is
seen landing here. Since he had not been able to see what Emmett and
Abigail did on the roof from his spot in the doorway, he had to figure out
the next move for himself. He walked all around the roof to check out
every possible path before leaping to the same spot on the giant pine tree
that all of the other owlets had landed. He sunk his talons into the rough
bark, flapped his wings, and was on his way up when I lost sight of him
behind the dense foliage. 
The
next time I spotted Ernie, he was more than fifty feet up in the pine tree
and still climbing. Later, I caught a brief glimpse of him flapping his
wings near the top of the tree as June delivered his first meal outside
the nest. The youngest owlet had done everything perfectly and will start
his new life high above the older owlets. I can now hear all three of them
wheezing in the night as Ward and June call to announce their arrivals
with the next meal. Their parenting duties are far from over as they will
be feeding the owlets for the rest of the summer while they learn to fly
and hunt.
Note: This will be the last regularly scheduled report of the 2001 nesting season. I will not follow the owls into the woods and will generally not know what they are up to. Chance sightings will occasionally be reported on an update page which will be added to the 2001 Adventures page. It's been a great nesting season for Ward and June and I hope you've enjoyed the privilege of observing it as much as I have. Thanks to all of those who have sent the kind notes of encouragement.