After more than a month of silence, one of the owlets made a surprise appearance today. He was being pursued by an extremely loud flock of blue jays as he landed in a tree in my front yard. At the age of five months, his call still clearly distinguishes him from an adult. The wheezing sound has evolved into a high pitched whistling sound that can be heard through the jay's angry calls. He then flew to the ground where he took cover in the deep underbrush until the jays gave up. Since the owlet's food begging (wheezing) halted last month, there is no way for me to know when they are in the area. This indicates that they are now hunting for all of their own food and should be prepared to move out of their parent's territory soon. If all goes well, they will establish their own territories and start families in the spring of 2001.
The young owl's independence has allowed Ward and June to turn all of their energies toward protecting the territory that was essential to this year's success. I hear them hooting vigorously several nights each week as they tell the world that this area taken. June has also resumed her visits to the nest box where she perches on the rail and repeats her loud hwu-hwu call for as long as five minutes. Ward and June's bravest assertion of ownership came on September 8th, when they defiantly continued their hooting in the presence of a great horned owl. This deadly visitor can just be heard in the distance at the end of this three-owl sound clip (120K). It starts with Ward's wailing call, which is closely followed by June's classic hoot. The great horned owl's call follows after about two seconds, but you will need a loud sound system and a quiet room to hear the distant hoot. It's a safe bet that Ward and June were poised to beat a hasty retreat if the dreaded intruder had moved closer, but this did not happen. The spectacular exchange continued for more than five minutes. This behavior makes it clear that Ward and June still consider the nest box to be their home. Prospects for another brood of owlets in the spring are looking good.
Back To: Summer 1998