June 16, 2005 - The return of the ternsThe Suffolk Times - June 16, 2005. 11 A
And down will come baby...
BARBARA AND I WERE putting the
final touches on last week's article
when the telephone rang. "What's
that ?" "Where did you say?" "Repeat
that." "Yes Okay. We'll be there."
Everything at home was put on hold.
There was a baby owl on the ground
and there was concern that dogs or
raccoons might find it and that could
mean trouble.
In less time than it takes to write
this down, Barbara and I were out the
door and heading for a rendezvous
with what we were pretty sure was a
great horned owl chick that somehow
took a wrong
FOCUS step and fell out
of the tree it had
ON been raised in.
We were to
NATURE meet our son
and Jeff Rogers
by Paul in the hopes we
$toutenbufgh could help save
one of nature's
mighty night hunters. Most of these
big owls have no set time for nesting,
since they don't have to coordinate
their nesting time with the seasons, as
other birds do. The reason for this is
that owls, in general, feed year -round
on their favorite diet of voles, shrews,
mice, rats, rabbits and, occasionally, a
bird or two.
That's why crows, blue jays and oth-
ers make such a fuss when they find
an owl during the daytime. Evidently
they know that one of theirs could
be snatched off its sleeping perch by
that master hunter of the dark, and so
they'll try to drive it away by scream-
ing their best and loudest calls, while
all the time others are dive - bombing
this dreaded enemy. Crows from all
over join in the harassment, each
swooping down and showing off to see
who can come closest to this giant owl.
After passing the house that had
the owl in distress twice, we finally
were hailed down by Carol, the owner
of the home. Peter and Jeff drove in
right behind us We found the young
great horned owl crouched under a
rhododendron branch, its big, yel-
low eyes blinking at us It still had its
baby down showing through its new
adult feathers If we got too close, its
bill would chatter and its wings would
open up, making it look twice the size
and like a formidable adversary.
All spring, Carol said, the family
had been watching the owls from the
house. Then just last week they no-
ticed the nest had fallen apart, leaving
the young owl to fend for itself while it
awaited its flight to freedom. Evident-
ly what had happened was that when
the nest fell apart, the young owl was
able to make out for a while, but then
somehow something went wrong and
it fell to the ground. What to do now?
Leaving it on the ground might prove
fatal should a dog or hungry raccoon
come along. It couldn't get off the
ground for it evidently hadn't as yet
passed its Flight Lesson 101.
Years ago the three of us found
ourselves in a similar situation in East
Marion. We had solved that problem
by putting the young in a basket and
hoisting the basket back up into the
tree. As in this situation, the nest had
fallen apart. Remember, great horned
owls do not build nests of their own.
They find last year's nest of a crow or
hawk and use it. Needless to say, these
old nests are not in the best of shape
and so don't always last.
Since hoisting a basket up into the
tree with the young had worked in
the East Marion situation, we decided
to give it a try here. Carol and her
two young boys produced a basket
from the garage. With this and a long
extension ladder, our young owl was
on the way to its new home. All the
time, the mother watched from a
nearby tree, hooting softly, and the
two communicated by clicking beaks.
This young owl was lucky someone
had been watching its nest and that
when disaster struck they called for
help. Follow the captions under the
photographs and let the owl tell you
its own story.
Clockwise from upper left:
"My nest blew apart and I tumbled out of the tree."
"A dog or a raccoon could discover me here."
"Thanks for the lift."
"Check out my new digs."
"If I click my bill, Mom will find me."
Hampton
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