Barred Owls Family (1) - Family of Four Olws
Changde Wu 2018-07-05
Barred Owls appear in many places and frequently watched ones. However, it is not that easy to see them clearly without messy foreground. I saw barred owls a few times in Plum Island, Massachusetts. But I have only taken a few good quality photos of them because of the thick branches around most of the times. My lucky times cames with the news of a pair of barred owls in a town not far from my home. The first several visitings were encouraging since they perched in a locations that were much open. Later on, some friends found their nests and two owlets in the hollow of a large tree on the side of a trail. It turned out that when the pair selected the hollow as nest in a deceiving secure area during the winter when the area and trail were covered by snow and ice. As the weather becoming warm, the snows are grudually gone and the trail is filled with busy walkers. Then the owl couple had to face the people walking back and forth under their nest every minute. They also had to face the photographers who stayed there and stared at them for a long time. The place is ideal for watching and photographing the birds since the owls were in open space most of the times. The tree where owls choose for nesting is on the side of a trail close to the pond and faces an open area in the foot of a forrested hill. The nest is around 10 meters above the ground. It is a perfect site for me since it is not far deviated from my daily commuter route so I can vist them two times a day in clear days, once in early morning, another in late afternoon. As the news about the owl familiy spread out, I saw the increased crowd of photographers and bird watchers day after day, even the people from New York state, The owlets fledged a few weeks later, and the area returned to quiet as if nothing had happened before.
Barred Owls are large owls with overall brownish tome and white spots on the back. They have several horizontal stripes on the neck and white bars on the tail. Their preferred habitat is mature forests. They are mostly nocturnal but also hunt in day time. Their food is mainly of small mammals, but also hunt for small animals such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, and even fishes. It was rare to see the pair perched side by side on the same tree and show their intimacy. I was furtunate enough to witness these scenes several times and recorded with my camera. The distinction between the male and female of owls is large based on the body size, with the male a little smaller. However, this is very tricky unless they seat side by side. The creteria I used to distinguish them apart is the behavior, for I believe that the male is more calm while the female is more vigilent. My another observation on the pair is that the color of the male owl is lighter and yellower. Neverthless, these might be wrong since I am not a bird expert after all.
I have taken a lot of photos and 4K videos about this family. However, this article only cites a few of them, listed in chronological order to better align with the lifecycle. The next article will document the owlets and their fledging.
