A friend wrote to me this morning, asking how I ended up finding the Barn Owlets, listed in my post of yesterday. Somehow I was inspired to wax rhapsodic about the find and wrote back the following summary. Now I feel better about having posted a comparatively dull account of an outing that truly was phenomenally stimulating !
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For the last stop of the night, I decided to show Sue the place where Prairie Falcons had nested last year and other past years, AND where I had found a beautiful, peaceful place to sit in my camping chair for an hour or 2, watching for Prairies and listening for them and for other bird/animal sounds and marveling at the gorgeous rocks, sky, clouds, river, etc. It had been a little sanctuary away from the Barboretum and Samish Flats ones. So, I pulled into that nice big pull-off space, pointed out the PRFA outcroppings, fully expecting to then turn around and drive back up Canyon Rd. and on to Seattle. BUT, as soon as we lowered our windows, sounds poured into the car, including what I though was nighthawks calling (because we had just been seeing some, I suppose). I kept listening to this non-stop series of, hey, HISSY sounds, and, finally it clicked ! Barn Owl babies wanting food ! - and where could they be? A cliff cave.... YES!!! Out of the car already, I quickly brought out the scope, set it up, aimed it at the sounds and, "Voila !!!" There they were - 3 together in the middle of the opening, and a shy one who occasionally walked out from the shadows on the left and got in line with the others - it was a CHORUS LINE !!! While I got out my camera and tried to figure out how in the heck to get any kind of image, Sue watched through the scope, even catching a little swaying back and forth of one of the choristers ! WOW ! I so wished you could be teleported to the scene to join me in my swooning !!! Definitely one of my best finds ever !!! And, it's another reason to do a late-in-the-day trip (or to stay overnight :-))

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This BAOW (yes, I know this isn't the correct alpha code, but BNOW hasn't yet taken it's place in my mind) brought back all the exciting and thrilling times I've had with Barn Owls in past years, from the nightly outpouring of 20 or so BAOW from a cliff near Lava Beds Nat'l Monument (is it a park now? :-)) one summer back 40 yrs or so, to the Owlbox owls on cam in San Marcos CA a few years back, to the Tower Owls at Magnuson Park a few years ago, as well. Oh yes, and the book "Wesley the Owl", too. Love the Barn Owls... Anyone else find their hisses to be soothing and lullaby-like, a great accompaniment to drifting out to your nightly field of dreams? :-)

Kleak, kleak, kleak,

Barb Deihl
Matthews Beach Neighborhood - NE Seattle
barbdeihl at comcast.net