As of 10 pm, the owlets had not received their first nighttime food delivery and I suspect that the bad weather is the reason.
| The owlets are now four weeks old
and June has found a new trick to get them thinking about moving out.
While a red squirrel for breakfast and a gray squirrel for lunch would
have been plenty to keep them content in the nest, June did not let this
happen. Rather than feeding them the entire squirrel in one meal as she normally
would, she abruptly stopped just as they were getting warmed up and left
the nest with the squirrel as she is seen doing here. She did this twice with this
particular gray squirrel and each time the owlets went wild. Spencer
climbed frantically to the door where he snapped his beak vigorously in
the direction of June's distant perch. Even the normally calm Penelope
went into a frogman routine that had wood chips flying all the way to the
ceiling. She was not, however, motivated highly enough to try to climb to
the door and brave the heavy rains and thunder that lasted throughout the day.
This foul weather was enough to send
Spencer back inside where he is seen sitting with Penelope as they wait
for June's next visit. Just minutes later, June arrived with
the same beat up squirrel for another short feeding session. Ward again
failed to show up at the nest before dark tonight, but did call home with
his classic hoot just after noon. The owlets were sleeping alone in the
nest at the time and immediately woke up and started wheezing while
looking in the direction of the hoots. Adult barred owls are able to
distinguish their mates by these hoots, but it is quite possible that the
owlets would respond to any adult hoot with the same enthusiasm.
As of 10 pm, the owlets had not received their first nighttime food delivery and I suspect that the bad weather is the reason. |
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