Owl sex was again seen, but not photographed. The sex has us questioning if after the loss of three chicks, is there a chance of a second brood?

As it got dark, the female adult, followed by the fledgling, appeared on the trees east of a Grotto.  While there, the female adult sang one soft song.  It was the trill song, the one we used to hear the West Drive screech female singing after her mate disappeared.

The female and fledgling headed west along the edge of the Pool and then few across the water, landing in a tree at the east end of the Pool.  Then the female alone flew into a bare tree just to the north.

A few seconds later,  we heard two trill songs, one from the female and a response from the male somewhere nearby.  Suddenly the male appeared right above the female.  And there, silhouetted by an almost full moon, we saw an amazing sight–Owl sex.

Then all three flew across the drive, and into the darkness of the night.

A tree just starting to bud is popular with the owls.  A tough night for photographs.  One thing is clear, if you’re going to follow owls, expect good nights and bad nights.

This evening, the fledgling was easy to photograph and watch.  We were beginning to learn their perches and habits, but still had a lots to discover.

After Chris sent word that she had found the owls again, we all went up north that evening.  For the first time in 2007, we got to see owls in Central Park.  Three owls to be exact, two parents and a fledgling.  They must have had four babies.  It was great to see both parents and the fledgling doing so well.

We were able to follow them as they flew from tree to tree.  I was able to get pictures of one of the parents and a fledgling.

They stopped in a tree that had been used by Screech-Owl fledglings two years ago.  It brought back memories of that year, my first season birding in Central Park.  It was the Screech-Owls that year that got me introduced to our current circle of owl watchers.

In late February, three young screech owls were found in the northern end of Central Park.

Marie was the epicenter of all the email traffic back and forth between rescuers, parks employees, and rehabbers.  The young owls were rescued on different days, a pair on one day, and the third on a different day.

For some reason, lights, plentiful food, that the reintroduced owls came from Rehabilitation and Rescue centers, and/or other factors have resulted in owlets being born a month or two too early in Central Park.  Young Screech owls are "branchers" before they fly, and their early birth when trees are without leaves seems to lead to problems.

In case the young owls could be reunited with their parents, an effort to find the parents was launched in case it made sense to reunite the young owls with their parents.  Last year’s 75th Street owl watchers went up for a few evenings, but we didn’t find the parents and gave up looking.

On March 13th, we all got a wonderful note from Chris:

"Positive visual sighting at 9PM of one mature Eastern Screech Owl on bridle path near ballfields, where Bruce Yolton was known to take photographs last year.

It flew to a branch within 5 feet of me, perching, without fear, for a good five minutes, responding with little hooty whoops to my whinnying, then flew off.

Good birding!

Chris and Fig"