Nesting season begins

Mercury is in retrograde, I’m told. There was a full moon this week. And far too many things that I’ve touched lately have crumbled… broken… you get my drift. Birds rule, however! They always fill my life and my heart with pleasure and they’ve been a wonderful diversion while Murphy and his Law have been around. The backyard is full of Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, and doves (about a dozen White-wings show up each day). The goldfinch numbers, sparse this year, have really dwindled. But spring brings in migrants and nesting season. The owls are early nesters and in spite of a tragedy at the Great Horned Owl’s nest, I still get excited about the thought of watching owlets.

(Note: Terri and I visited the Great Horned Owl nest I mentioned in an earlier posting on March 1 and found the nest vacated. Worst of all, we found an owl’s wing beneath the nest. One of the adults was apparently attacked by a predator and the nest abandoned. Nature, of course; tragic, absolutely!)

There are now several owl nests that we’re watching so I thought I’d report on these as a way of saying “hi” to Les in the UK who’s teaching me about owls in his country. Terri and I found another Great Horned Owl’s nest at Lake Arcadia in Edmond. This one is deep in a wooded area. We also found the nest site for a pair of Barred Owls (pictured right). We found an egg shell beneath a hollow tree on March 4 and hope to see some young ones in a few weeks.

We also visited a site in El Reno, west of the old Fort, where we’ve observed a pair of barn owls for the past three years. They are currently sitting on several eggs in the barn’s rafters and, again being hopeful, should have several young by early April. (Barn owl babies are definitely something only a mother could love!)

This winter has certainly been one to challenge the best of optimists. I’m willing to give it a go and look forward to spring’s rebirth!