#barred owl
On Sunday, I desperately had to get out of the house. I am still recovering from surgery, and very tired. I get physically worn out and sore just standing or sitting too long. But it’s so beautiful outside! I asked my SO if he’d give a ride to the nature park so I could shuffle about a bit and sit on the benches, just to enjoy the fall weather. I was lucky enough to see, along with many other birds, a Cooper’s Hawk and this Barred Owl, which I got many photos of, until my camera ran out of batteries.
Then I watched as it swooped down, inches from my head, pounced and caught a garter snake, flew with it into a tree right above me, and killed and ate it. Too bad I hadn’t charged my camera battery before going. -_- I did get photos of that with my cell phone, at least.
(I’ll come back here soon, when I’ve got the energy.)
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looks like this livestream! the female is currently incubating her first egg of the season :)
Look “who” stopped by for a visit this weekend! This Barred Owl hung out for several hours, and posed for many, many pictures. We also had an eagle overhead, and a few hawks. Pretty awesome spring day with the snow melting! I could never go back to film photography….between the bright moonscape the night before, and all the birds yesterday, I took 564 pictures in 24 hours……..
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Barred Owl
Photo: LDeans
2013/07/14
There’s something that not many people know about me. It’s a dark and difficult secret, but you are my loyal (I hope) followers, and for your sake, the truth must come out.
I am a falconer. Or, I’m working on becoming one. I make my living in the summer hanging out with and helping to care for birds of prey. I’m sorry to have to break it to you that my job is so awesome.
Lucy, one of my “co-workers”.
One of the most common questions I get asked is “how did someone like you / someone so young get into this sort of thing?” and I always begin by explaining that I am an absolute freak for animals. I can watch a rabbit eat grass and do boring rabbit crap for three hours and it will be the greatest event of my week.
The first thing you must have before you even think about approaching falconry is an unshakable love and respect for every animal’s boundaries and idiosyncrasies. My mother, who remains to be the only other person I have met who gets the same joy out of simply observing animals, taught me how to honor and connect with animals an early age. Don’t approach a strange dog too quickly. Never get between a mother bear and her cubs. When approaching any animal, keep your stance low and your voice soft. Wait for them to come to you. In this era of captive-bred everything, habitat loss and nature deficit disorder, I feel really fortunate to have had those teachings passed on to me.
Nobody may sit higher than the Queen.
As for how I got into falconry itself, I was given the opportunity by Kim and Karen Kamstra, experienced falconers, educators, and owners of Raptors Ridge Birds of Prey.
The summer before I entered Grade 12, they made a deal with the Capilano Suspension Bridge to come every day from Father’s Day to Labour Day and give people a chance to see raptors up close.
Karen and Sedona, a juvenile female Harris Hawk.
Naturally, I spent a lot of time finding ways to shirk my responsibilities as a nature guide and hang out with Kim and Karen and whichever birds they had with them that day. The next summer, as I leaned against the fence in my dorky uniform, Karen turned to me and said “Want a bird?”, indicating the tiny Kestrel perched atop her gloved hand. It’s impossible to forget how I felt right at that moment, feeling my heartbeat whooshing at the back of my mouth as I slipped the glove on and felt Little Dude’s willow-thin toes wrap around my index finger. I was afraid to move. Even though he was so tiny, the confidence in his grip and his beetle-black gaze held me in total rapture. Woman became perch.
Turns out I was good at it; In subsequent summers my duties went from simply sitting with the birds while Kim or Karen took a much-deserved coffee break to helping with difficult duties such as coping (trimming and shaping of beaks) or replacing equipment and eventually to assisting at events and holding down the fort when emergencies arose.
Conversing with Rusty, our wild rescue Red-Tailed Hawk.
In each installment of Sweaty Gauntlet, I will be covering the day-to-day joy and chaos of working in falconry, telling stories, and sharing info on how we can give these beautiful animals the help that they need so we can continue to be awed by them.
Wa-hoo-hoo the barred owl is very photogenic, patient, and soft to pet. Petting an owl is definitely one of the perks of scientific illustration.
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A barred owl stands on a moss-covered log while looking at its reflection in a pool of water. This stunning photo was taken by teacher Bill McMullen at an outdoor learning centre near Cumberland in Ontario, Canada.
Picture: Bill McMullen/Solent News
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The wolves, the flower maiden, and the owl’s ghost from Wolf’s Rain.
12 x 9" watercolor, black and gold ink
14/11/2020 A Barred Owl has been making Confused Sex Hoots. In the middle of the day. In November, which is the least sexy month for Barred Owls. We found this Mystery Lump in the forest, looking like a lopsided glob of molten marshmallow about to fall off the skewer. Can’t be sure at this distance, but I suspect the Mystery Lump is the source of the Confused Sex Hoots.
Consider the Arctic Terns. They live in a world of brightness, crossing the globe twice a year to live on the gleaming ice under the nightless skies of both the Arctic and Antarctic summers. Winter does not know them, and they nod vaguely and politely when you speak to them of night.
Consider the Bar-headed Geese, who have been migrating across the Himalayas since before the Himalayas existed. Their blood is strange with mutant hemoglobin. They cross in a single night, in dark and bitter cold, so the air above the mountains thickens enough to hold them.
And then there’s these guys. Scientists have captured, banded, released, and recaptured a couple hundred Barred Owls; none was further than ten kilometers from its starting point. They are the laziest bird.
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Happy Saturday! Here’s a throwback video of Sam having a conversation with one of our former Educators, Jenna Orr!
Instead of a bat-burrito, today we have a Sam-burrito! She was such a good girl while she was getting her beak and talons all trimmed up!
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A four-owl day in Central Park (12/8/18)
Two barred owls, a northern saw-whet and a great-horned!
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Woodcocks and Barred Owls
There’s been a few adorable Little Guys spotted in the park around my office recently, so here’s some doodles of them
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