Tuesday, July 13, 2010

More Owl Babies!


Ahhh, the  baby owls- they have to be among the cutest of all baby anythings. They are visiting often and as you can see they don't seem intimidated by people at all- quite the contrary they seem to even seek us out.


I love the fact that barred owls mate for life and care for their young for four months- much longer than other owls. They lay almost perfectly round white eggs in April that hatch in about four weeks. When the babies are too big for the nest but not yet ready to fly they do their version of crawling using their beaks and talons and sit on branches for 4 or 5 weeks before they fledge. At that stage they are called appropriately enough "branchers".  If they do fall they can even "crawl" back up the tree!


As a friend said the majesty of the owl reminds us of the magnificence of our natural world and the role we all have to help protect the earth and all life. Yes, yes!




3 comments:

Monika Kretschmar said...

These are too precious! It's not hard to believe that they are reincarnated philosophers - baby philosophers at that stage :)

Barbara Upton said...

Baby philosophers- I like that!
You mentioned it was hard to leave a comment- can you tell me what made it hard? I looked at settings and can't see how to make easier. thanks for the feedback.

Monika Kretschmar said...

The problem is that the comment has to be approved by you first. Then I have to choose an identity and after that I have to give an URL. I wonder, do you experience the same procedure when you leave a comment on my blog or is it more simple, such as "write" and "publish"?