Subject: [Tweeters] Incredible Barred Owl Show!
Date: Mon May 3 07:51:30 PDT 2021
From: Joan Miller - jemskink at gmail.com

Tweets,

What a night last night. A pair of barred owls put on quite a show for me
and my neighbors. Next to Camp Long, it started out with a low soft
hooting. I went out on my deck to listen. The owl was in a tree right at
the edge of the park. The soft calling went on for a little while. Soon I
heard what I assumed was its mate begin hooting back from a short distance
away. They continued to hoot. All of a sudden I heard it very close, and
looked up to see the second owl had landed atop a telephone pole right in
front of me, next to my house. I stood silently watching and listening. The
one on the pole looked so big and chunky. It was amazing. Then they started
their VERY loud raucous "monkey" babbling back and forth. Woweee, was it
loud! It was like a nature show. The one from the tree flew out toward us
and went past to the south, right by my neighbor's house. The one on the
pole didn't move. Pretty soon the other returned, flying right near us. The
wingspan made it look huge. I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Was
"she" going to land? Were they going to mate right in front of me? She kept
flying back to her tree. The one on the pole still didn't move. They
continued calling and babbling. I saw my neighbors go over toward the tree
to watch. Finally, the one on the pole flew into the tree to join its mate.

I went out to chat with my neighbors. "Wasn't that cool?" Our mouths were
open. What a spine-tingling experience. I'm more in awe of our owls now
than ever. That was the treat of a lifetime.

Paul Bannick, I'm sure you're nodding your head. Yep, owls are awesome! I'd
love to know more about that behavior. Were they courting, just bonding, or
saying hello?

Joan Miller
West Seattle
jemskink at gmail dot com
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