Day Five Afternoon
I arrived at Maumee Bay boardwalk at 2:00. The highlight of the afternoon was…..
….but, before I get to that series of pictures, other birds I saw included a pair of Blue Jays on a nest.
I saw the common nighthawks again, better views this time.
As I mentioned the highlight of the afternoon were the screech owls. Today I located 2 owlets and two adults. Most of the birders were coming and going, but there were three individuals that were not leaving. The four of us stuck around to observe the branching owlets. We were there for the next four hours watching. It is not unusual for me to spend that much time in one spot, but I don’t always have company. We were rewarded with the experience of witnessing the branching process.
As I have mentioned before, branching is something the owlets do in preparation of fledging. They move from branch to branch and as they mature, from tree to tree. They cannot fly yet; they climb with their beaks and their talons. At times they may fall to the ground. If this happens they will climb their way back up to a branch. During my great horned owl nest monitoring I spent many days watching the owlets branch, but I never witnessed one falling to the ground.
This afternoon we witnessed this happen and how it climbed its way back up to a branch.
Then we noticed this second owlet some distance from the other one.
He then glides his way to another branch.
He tries to glide to another branch but instead he falls to the ground. We loose sight of him for a bit until we see he has climbed onto another branch and then to another branch from there.
Then he decides to make it over to a larger tree and actually climbs across the thick bark of the trunk.
Here is takes a much need break.
We notice both parents are in a nearby tree together. They are preening each other.
What a nice grand finale to a great birding trip.
