Four Weeks Old

Where will Wally and Theodore go when they leave the nest? Will they disappear silently into the night as Peanut did last year or will they entertain us by doing their "branching" near the nest box? Only Ward and June know the answer to this question. We can only know that they will go to the place their parents believe is safest. Barred owlets leave the nest weeks before they can fly and hide in the branches. This gives them room to flap their wings and grow as their parents feed and teach them. Ward and June will walk them through the woods under cover of darkness until they reach the right spot. Meanwhile, there have been some interesting developments in the nest box. Wally and Theodore are only able to swallow small mice. When Ward left a large mouse with Theodore, he struggled to swallow it for more than fifteen minutes. Wally accepted Theodore's ownership, but stared at him continuously. The mouse appeared to be stuck in Theodore's throat with only its tail sticking out. When Theodore finally gave up and let the mouse fall to the floor, both owlets ignored it. Not until two hours later when June started calling did they divide the mouse up and each swallow half. It was almost as though they felt they would be in trouble for not eating their lunch. They are now able to elevate their eyes to the level of the door by pushing up with their wings. Much as a human doing a push-up might lift his body by straightening his arms. They have not attempted to go further toward the exit. Finally, a constant buzzing that could be heard throughout the night tells me that the bees are building a nest in the top of the nest box. So far there is no sign that this is bothering the owls. In addition to illustrating the effectiveness of the owl's camouflage, the above picture of the sleeping owlets can be use to estimate their size. The floor dimensions are 14in. x 14 in.

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