Last Summer, we had a very famous Barred Owl family make their home at a nearby park. Local birders enjoyed great views of these very cooperative owls who seemed to be showing off for us! I only have time for a short post tonight, so I will fill this entry with photos of these beautiful birds!
The easiest way to find these birds were when they would call back and forth with a hissing sound. We found the two siblings pretty easily
Young Barred Owl
Young Barred Owl
A parent Owl eventually flew near the bog and gave the photographers a great opportunity.
Barred Owl parent
The next time I went with another friend, we found the young owls after an hour of searching!
The two young Owls
I took some video this day too. This one shows the Owl making its hissing call.
Listening to that is really making me itch for spring with the Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warblers and Hermit Thrush singing in the background! This video shows both Owls together, with one getting very curious at the sound of my friend walking.
I returned again with a visiting friend and once again found both siblings.
Barred Owl
Barred Owl siblings
One of them decided to give us a show and stretched it’s wings, giving us great photo ops, even in the dark woods.
Barred Owl stretching
Barred Owl stretching
Barred Owl stretching
I also finally got a quick video of flight… well, a good enough video of one of the Owls flying off camera…
These Owls were such a pleasure to have. I hope they return this year so that I can spend more time with them. This time, I will set aside some days and actually stick around a bit more.
One of the greatest surprise sightings during the Biggest Week in American Birding last year was seeing usually-nocturnal birds during the day – with great views too! We did not even have to locate any of these birds ourselves; other birders already had them in their sight and were eager to share with anyone who was interested. All birds photographed below were seen right on the Magee Marsh boardwalk!
On our first day, we had the best views of an Eastern Screech-Owl that you could possibly ask for – and it was a life bird for me! I always thought I would first see one in a nesting box – it was great to see and photograph it perched naturally. We saw this bird every day that we visited the boardwalk.
Eastern Screech-Owl
The same day, we stumbled upon a Nightjar-like bird who was hunkered down in plain sight. We agreed that it was a Common Nighthawk when it finally stretched out a bit and showed us more of its body. A great view of another life bird!
Common Nighthawk
One of the more famous guests of the boardwalk could only be seen from a very specific area, on top of a bench, with one – maybe two – viewers at a time. Others had better views of these Great-horned Owlets, but I will take even this view any day! And dare I say – life bird number three for the nocturnal species, even if it was just the young!
Great-horned Owlets
We heard about the breeding pair of American Woodcocks who would show themselves during the day. Guides had their scopes pointed at the “eye of the woodcock” on her nest at various times throughout the week. This was one bird that we really wanted to see since all of us had only seen them at dusk when the males display. We were not disappointed!
American Woodcock
This one may not have been a life bird, but I’ve never seen a Woodcock like this before!
American Woodcock Close-up
One more nocturnal surprise was a fly-by adult Black-crowned Night-heron that we saw while on a half-day field trip in search of water birds. We also did catch some of these night birds at night. One of the most memorable experiences was having a woodcock land right in front of us after his flight display on the same night that we caught an Eastern Screech-Owl – all on the property of the Maumee Bay Lodge while celebrating Cinco de Mayo with new friends. Birding plus margaritas?? Sure!!
