The Day Shift

It appears that the owls have finally moved to another part of their territory. I have not seen them since June 19th, but have heard a couple of nighttime nest inspection visits by an adult. This is not surprising since barred owls normally occupy a territory of about one square mile and seem to "rotate" through it. Only nesting season is likely to cause them to linger in any one area for much more than a week. A few days after they left this area, this Northern Goshawk landed on the same split log where Wally and Theodore were pictured on June 15th. It is seen eating a "dove size" bird as smaller birds swarmed around excitedly harassing it. This mighty predator was even forced to duck a few times to avoid dive bombing blue jays. The goshawk is a very rare visitor here and I would probably have missed him if my camera had not still been aimed at this spot in hopes of getting another shot of the owlets. Red tailed hawks are far more common in this area and can be seen soaring overhead throughout the summer.

Back to: Summer 1998