Hoot the Barred Owl part 4

 

Panorama iPhone view of our trees from eve of house to eve of house.

Hoot spent at least 12 hours sitting in the top of the palm, the one on the left of the two palms to the left.

Hoot sat about 40 feet up, the other trees are about 6 stories high

These two phots are called Vertical Panorama photos, again by iPhone. Woo Hoo, learned something new.

These trees are 6 stories high, about 50 feet I think.

I think I know why this barred owl, known as Hoot, chose our home to live behind.

Research tells me

the answer to David's comment yesterday, how do I know if the owl is a HE not a SHE.

I don't know, but THEY say the only way to tell is if they sit next to each other and the BIGGER one will be the female. We are calling him Hoot and Bob said to use IT instead of He/She

Barred Owls are the only owls that like daylight hours.

they live in knot holes in tall trees.

They prefer really tall trees, they like 40 to 50 feet/15-18 meters. The like to live in them and sit in therm.

Below is Google earth and our house is the red X. 

see all those trees?

THEY say Owls prefer trees, lots of trees and love swampy areas. The house at the bottom circled in red has been untouched by human hands or feet for many years.

The yard is a Swamp! truly is.

 Also note, Owls like proximity to water. SEE the Four Pool, ours is surrounded by trees and not open like the others.

Bob and I think after much discussion, Hoot is guarding a nest with eggs or babies.

Yet another reason we vote HE, because SHE is sitting on eggs or feeding Babies

THEY say they lay 3 to 5 eggs end of March and 30 to 33 days later BABIES.

We can think of no reason he would sit 5 hours straight, take a lunch break and sit for another 5 hours on the same frond. He was dive bombed most of the day by starlings, crows, jays etc. he did not blink and eye or flutter a feather.

What ever the reason, which ever gender he is, We love Hoot and have cricks in our necks watching him. I think our sliding glass door may have to be replaced from constant sliding it open and shut for hours.

Note: Info Found HERE says they mate for life, and take care of babies for up to 6 months, longer than any other owl..

Just think of the OWL blog fodder if they have Babies.....

Look Whooo's BACK

 

At 8:30 AM on 4/26/2023, Wednesday, Bob yelled in the door, he's back and I went running.

Hoot was first seen in our palm trees 11 days ago on April 5th. He stayed about half an hour.

today he stayed for over 2 hours.

I spent most of my morning watching him and talking baby talk to him, his eyes followed me, and he listened to me talk. I think he was looking at the lens and smiling. 

He was in the shade, and I had to edit the 19 photos I took of him. Most of the time

he was behind fronds, but he moved out a little and I grabbed the photos before he turned his back to watch the birds that were diving at him.

In the 11 days since we first sighted him, I have heard him at 1 AM and 2:30 AM on two different nights when I got up for a potty break. We think his nest may be in one of our trees or the neighbors' trees.

2 sightings 2 hearings in our yard and 2 hearings from our neighbors' yards in the early am.

We are in love with our new neighbor. We are truly thankful he has chosen our yard.

the neighbor next door says he found 3 baby ducks in the yard in the middle of the night. His three pitties went crazy and he went out to see what it was. He said they ran in our yard. I told him the Male and female love our pool. It seems we have a family of Mom/Dad/2 mating teens and 3 babies.

He is about 2 feet tall. The claws look lethal.

We changed his name from Hooty to HOOT because he is a hoot to watch.

Thrilling Backyard Visitor

This is part of our view as we sit by the pool each day after we finish lunch. It was a noisy 15 minutes.

The tallest trees above were full of black birds. Screeming and diving, about 20 of them.

I said do you see the hawk? they are upset.

The screeching was so bad I stood to go in the house. Bob said

LOOK LOOK up in the tallest palm.

I raced inside for the camera. The Nikon not the phone

In the trees above and the two below He is THERE?

if you enlarge, he can be seen.

he is on the left bottom just above the dead palm frond stick. in all these photos.

enlarge we can see his eyes which followed me every where I went.

I stood peering at him with the zoom 

and suddenly He looked me right in the eyes.

The Barred Owl we have been hearing was sitting there with black birds diving at him.

One bird smacked him on his shoulder, he just sat there.

I Madly Snapped

We were so thrilled we talked about him for hours and every time I go out I look for him.

I found that the barred owl is one of few who hunt in daytime hours.

For a week now we have blamed the hawks for all the feathers found on the pool deck.

Each day I fussed about the hawk eating the jays and he was misjudged.

The Owl is Here, we are in love with him.

Hooty is welcome. Hawks are common as robins here.

we have seen screech owls in early hours several times but never an owl like this.

He is a Lifer for both of us and now  I get what that word means to bird watchers.

I stood inside our kitche door watching him for another 20 minutes. each time I moved he focused on my eyes from the top of a 40 foot palm, that was 40 feet away, he could see my eyes

inside the glass door.