Hello Michael and Tweeters,
I have to tell you how much i enjoyed you experience with this young Barn
Owl.Thank you for sharing this with all the tweeters.Latley i also had a
verry stranfge experience,not with an Owl,but with a juvenile Rufous
Hummigbird.It started on a thursday the 17th of this month.I saw a youg bird
sitting close to the hummingbird feeder.He was sitting still but open his
beak constanly,i was thinkink he would like to attract insects,since he also
stuck his tongue out.This was goig on for a long time.Than it dawned on me
that this bird act as he want to be fed,from his parent,what was not in
sight.This tiny bird flew of when i approached it.
The next day i look out of the window and find this bird sittin in a
bush,than dropping down to the ground,and again open his beak and it looked
as if he was breathing very hard.It looked to me as he was not doing so
good.I told Patrick to go take my Dragonfly Net to catch this bird.As he
approache this bird did not moved,Patrick put the net over the bird,but
beeing so far away and the handle is so long,this bird slipped out and flew
into our Vine Maple tree.By this time i went down we looked deep in to the
tree,we could not relocate this bird,but we discovert our first record
yardbird the "Dusky Flycatcher" It looked as this bird was so tired,he would
sit still and it was late close to 9.00 Pm.So we think this bird came this
to rest up and go on with his migration flight to eastern washington.We
looked the next morning and this Flycatcher was not there.We also never saw
the Juvenile male Rufous again.


Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma
godwit at worldnet.att.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Hobbs <Hummer at isomedia.com>
To: Tweeters (E-mail) <TWEETERS at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 2:43 PM
Subject: Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co. WA) 5/23/2001


> Tweets - yesterday seven of us gathered at Marymoor for the weekly walk,
this
> time on a hot sunny day. But before the others had arrived, I'd already
had
> some excitement.
>
> I showed up around 6:00 a.m., and stopped by the BARN OWL tree to see if I
> could see a juvenile. Several times last week there was a young bird
nestled
> against the trunk of the tree, visible in broad daylight. Yesterday
morning,
> however, there was no sign of owls. I headed over to my usual parking
spot at
> the southwest corner of the Dog Area lot, and sitting on the sign in front
of
> me was a Barn Owl! I reached behind me and grabbed my camera. Opening
the
> window, I snapped a shot, and then another. As I clicked off the second
frame,
> a crow nailed the Owl on the back of the head and knocked it headlong into
the
> grass!
>
> I got out of the car and scared off the crows. Approaching, I found a
fully
> fledged, but apparently very young owl awkwardly swimming through
2-foot-tall
> grass. I took one more picture, then contemplated what to do. While I
though,
> a dog came by and desperately wanted to go off in the direction of the
owl, but
> luckily the owner was training the dog to heel, and wouldn't allow the
> diversion. I felt it could be unsafe to take the time to get Animal
Control
> out to help (besides, they'd probably take it away, which I didn't think
was
> necessary). I thought I might try to grab the owl, using my coat like a
large
> blanket, and then I'd carry the owl to somewhere where it could spend the
day
> crow-free. That was the idea, anyway. When I approached it with my coat,
the
> owl turned over on it's back, hissing, and showing me its very
sharp-looking
> talons. Hmmm. This wasn't going to work. I went back to the car to
cogitate,
> then returned to the owl to apprise the situation again. Voila -
threatening
> the owl with the coat had pushed the owl low enough into the grass that
there
> was a clear and obvious way for it to crawl under the large mound of
> blackberries. Safe for the day! (and see my final notes below).
>
> A couple of minutes later, the other birders showed up, and off we went.
It
> was a remarkably quiet day, with just a couple of glimpses at some unusual
> birds, but pleasant none-the-less. Highlights:
>
> Blue-winged Teal Quick look at drake near weir
> Bald Eagle Adult over lake, subadult over Rowing Club
> Red-tailed Hawk At least 2 downy young in each nest
> Virginia Rail In slough near cars
> Spotted Sandpiper Two flew down to slough near the Rail
> Willow Flycatcher Heard several, saw a couple
> Cedar Waxwing Incredibly Abundant - 100+
> Swainson's Thrush Much "whit"ting, some singing, a couple of looks
> Bl.-headed Grosbeak Many males, 1 or 2 females
> Lazuli Bunting Male across from Dog Central for a moment
> Bullock's Oriole Male made a brief appearance near the cars
>
> There are at least 6 Tree Swallow nests in various nest boxes in the park,
and
> 2-4 Black-capped Chickadee nests as well. Both species were also observed
> nesting in natural cavities as well. American Goldfinch were seen
copulating,
> and several species were seen building nests, including Cedar Waxwing and
> Bushtit.
>
> We had several Yellow Warbler, but only 1 female Wilson's Warbler, and no
> Western Tanager or vireos. No Green Heron either, though I saw 3 on
Tuesday.
>
> We had 47 species on the day, though many of the best birds were seen by
only
> one or two people.
>
> After the Friends of Marymoor Park meeting last night, I stopped back at
the
> Barn Owl tree just at dusk to see what was up. In one short cottonwood
stub
> was a downy young squawking incessantly. Next to it was a fully fledged
but
> very uncoordinated presumed sibling, which I assume was the same bird as I
saw
> in the morning. The fledged bird flew awkwardly to another tree (landing
was
> difficult and looked painful). A few minutes later, a much more
coordinated
> bird flew overhead with all three birds calling out as only Barn Owls can.
> Ain't raising kids fun...
>
> == Michael Hobbs
> == Kirkland WA
> == Hummer at isomedia.com
> == http://www.scn.org/fomp/birding.htm
>