Baby owls

We had to have the two dead sycamores taken out of our backyard. We suspected that one tree had an owl nest, because we often saw the adult owls hanging out there. And the tree being dead and mostly hollow was excellent owl habitat. Unfortunately, it also sat right next to the house. And it was dead. So while it was excellent owl habitat, it was also excellently situated to cause a world of pain during the next high wind. It had to go.

Note the tree closest to the porch. It had the suspected owls nest.

Sure enough, when the tree guys climbed up there, he peeked in and saw a nest of four baby owls. So before they cut the tree down, Ben carefully took the babies out and put them in a bucket for safekeeping. Ben said that they basically just settled in to a sort of stupor once they were in the bucket, which leads me to believe they are very young.

note the baby in the middle -- still quite dinosaur-looking.

When they were finished with cutting down the trees (by the way, any suggestions for a long-lived native tree that will provide shade and comfort for generations to come?) the yard was bare and sunny, and the owls were still huddled in their bucket.

The tree guys set aside the section of trunk that held the nest, and Ben put it on the roof of the workshed at the back of the yard. Then he put the babies in. We’ve been keeping an eye out for the mother owl but haven’t seen her yet. The wildlife rescue people said the babies will start chirping for her, and if it doesn’t seem like the mother can find the babies again, they will take them.

If you look closely you can see the one baby in the nest.

This was the section of the trunk that held the nest originally; now it's sitting on the workshed overhang with the babies inside.