| Penelope is now the lone owlet in
the nest box and only Ward and June know exactly where Spencer is. He
decided to leave the nest late this afternoon and wasted no time in doing
so. He first jumped from the door where he was perched with Penelope to
the rail where he is seen here. After that he showed his maturity by
easily navigating the rail and making the two jumps that took him to the
roof. He seemed in a big hurry to get off of the roof and spent less than
a minute searching for the best path to the treetops. Unfortunately, he
did not choose the best path and instead took one that required the very
long jump that he is seen studying in the lower picture. Seconds later
made the leap, but was unable to clasp the branch and went crashing to the
ground. It was impossible to see his landing from my vantage point, but it
appeared that he avoided injury and was flapping his wings all the way to
the ground. He could be heard snapping his beak at the small birds that
pestered him for the next few minutes as June flew in to assist. While the
ground is a dangerous place for an owlet to be, June's owlets have fallen
in past seasons and always managed to climb back up into a tree. Spencer
is clearly mature enough to do this, but the dense foliage will make it
impossible for me to know just what is happening. I will not enter their
area to find out, because my presence would increase the risk by driving
the adults away, while the scent of a human could attract dangerous
predators such as raccoons. Distant sightings will therefore be largely a
matter of luck, but will be reported when they occur. These are stressful
times in the owl world and I can only hope that good fortune will continue
to follow this owl family.
After watching Spencer's fall, Penelope lost all interest in leaving the nest and soon went back inside to wait for her next meal. That meal did not come until 11pm, but was a big one which required June to enter and spend five minutes ripping it up. |
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