Hello Tweets,

What a privilege this spring has been! First a baby hummingbird growing up
outside my window, and now an owl family in some nearby woods.

I was ignorant of owl natural history, and thus was pretty worried when I
saw the owlet (perhaps a month old?) flopping around on a tree. But it
became clear as I watched that this must be how baby owls learn forest
navigation.

The owlet, having lost its grip and landed back on the ground, started
walking away from its audience and trundled away across the forest floor to
a sequoia near a watchful parent. It then began hiking *straight up* the
tree, using mainly its legs and talons with wing flaps from time to time, I
assume to keep it balanced. Every once in a while it would take a brief
break and simply nestle against the bark. Is it able to lock its talons to
hold on with less effort?

The baby climbed vertically up the tree, bypassing a number of potential
branch resting-places, and finally moved horizontally around the tree to a
short branch. After a glimpse back down the approximately 30' it had just
climbed in about 13 minutes, the owlet perched at the tip of the branch and
began to preen.

I've posted some photos of the process on my Flickr page at
www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/sets/72157619070552622/ (and there are other
photos of the adults elsewhere in my photostream, accessible from there).

The next day, a few of us watched as the owlet fell about that same distance
down off a different tree, flapping as it fell. This time the parents were
off in another section of woods, not supervising. But it bounced right back
up and hurried to a small tree, climbing it until he was out of dog reach.
The parents both hurried back and checked their baby out, nuzzling him in a
very sweet scene.

I assume that young owls pretty much plan to fall, both to give themselves
experience stretching and flapping their wings in open air and to practice
landing safely. I often see the owlet fly-hopping from branch to branch in
thicker parts of the forest, and it often moves sideways along a branch
until it's at the very tip, from where it looks down as if studying a
potential path.

What a never-ending source of fascination nature provides, and what an
education!

Good birding,
Trileigh

*****
Trileigh Tucker
West Seattle