Sunday, April 8th

On Easter Sunday the weather was cold, with snow flurries.  Jim, Marie, Jean and I saw all three owls.  They flew out ten minutes apart, first the fledgling followed by Trident and then Herringbone.  Jean sees the fledgling fly across the drive in advance of its parents.  So, we’re seeing some independence develop.  After the fly out, we left since it was so cold.

A Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was in the area at sunset along the North Meadow and then south of the 99th Street playground off Central Park West.

Trident
Fledgling
Fledgling
Fledgling
Fledgling
Fledgling
Fledgling
Trident with Herringbone behind
Trident
Fledgling
Fledgling
Fledgling
Fledgling
Trident
Trident
Trident
Trident
Trident
Herringbone
Herringbone
Herringbone
Herringbone

Saturday, April 7th

It might be April, but it was still cold. Jean and I braved 32 degree weather.  7:20 was the first pop-up of an owl in the hole.  Everything was normal until 7:35 when a Red-tailed Hawk flies within feet of the hole, carrying a rat.

We don’t see an owl in the hole until 8pm!  The larger of the two adults, Trident sits in hole and calls loudly for a long time.  We only see the parents leave hole, 8:10 (Trident) and 8:11 (Herringbone).  I wonder if they told the kid to stay home tonight!

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Friday, April 6th

Jean, Lee, Noreen and I watched the fly out.  All three owls were in the cavity.  The fledgling flew out early and had to deal with two alarmed Robins, who made a racket around it.  After all three flew out, they went northeast.  One adult stayed behind for a awhile.  They then were in the area near the two pine trees the owls used two years ago.  We heard more calling and the owls went across the drive.

Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Trident
Trident
Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Owlet
Trident
Trident
Herringbone
Trident
Trident
Adult with Fledgling

Thursday, April 5th

It was cold and windy, with partly cloudy skies.  Owl watchers included Marie, then, Chris, then Lee, Jimmy, Noreen, Mary Ann, and Jean.

We saw one adult, Trident and the fledgling in the cavity trading places.  The fledgling few out five to ten minutes before the adult, who stretches a wing before flying out.  The wing stretch before fly out is a rarity.

After the fly out of the adult, the third owl which doesn’t have stripes on its forehead, so I’m calling it Herringbone comes in from somewhere.  All fly rapidly northeast.  A song is heard.   I think it’s the adult love song. Jean, the fledgling crying for food.  She may have gotten it right, as the adults may have begun to let Junior get its own food, rather than feeding it.

Jean and I go down into the Loch, down north path from road, then north a little on the west path.
Two owls are on a low branch, that then go towards the stream.  The “path” was too wooded and thick to safely follow them in the dark, so we called it a night.

Owlet
Owlet with Trident behind
Owlet with Trident behind
Owlet
Trident
Trident
Trident
Trident
One of the adults.

Tuesday, April 3th

Tonight, Marie, Jimmy, and I watched the nest cavity. We saw an adult and the fledgling trading places.  It was a cold night after a nice and sunny, warm sixty degree day.

At fly out, we thought all three flew out of the cavity but couldn’t be certain.

We heard a soft song by one of the owls but we didn’t see any copulation tonight. All three stayed in the usual trees for about 10 minutes before flying northeast.  We searched in the trees, but the owls had out foxed us, and were nowhere to be seen.

As we exited the park, our peanut feeding raccoon lover was feeding two raccoons.  No wonder The Pool is over-populated with them.

An owl yawn.