Dear Janet,I enjoy your blog from Indiana. My family and I have been watching a pair of barred owls become parents. Their nest was nestled in the hollow of a branch at the top of very tall tree across the street from our home. Over the course of the several weeks, the owlets ventured farther and farther away from their home, moving east at the rate of one front yard per week.I am a teacher and shared both photos and video with my students. Then I offered to host "owl excursions." Their parents would text as they were leaving home. I ventured outside to find the owls and would stand, pointing at the owls, when my students arrived. Then I headed back indoors and my students got out of their cars to owl watch.
Owl Excursions!
Love it!
And look at the talons on that bird in flight!
(yesterday was a great day here at the office, but that meant I didn't have time to get thoughts in order for a blog post. Fortunately, readers have come to the rescue on days like that!)
13 comments:
Wow, what a great teacher. I work in a school system and am amazed at how the teachers have rallied in this time. And lots of them have small children at home and some with little or no help. What a brilliant and creative way to stimulate your students' minds and imaginations. What amazing photos too. Owls are fascinating creatures.
whoo whoo :)
I speak owl.
Love this and your creativity for students, OP. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful! We have an owl family somewhere near us though we rarely see them. But we hear them all the time. We also have a couple eagles, one juvenile of which has staked his claim across the street. They're all so magnificent. Thanks for sharing!
A few years ago, three, I used to fish a section of the local river. There were Barres Owls there, but I paid no attention to them.
Then I hooked a medium sized Spotted Sunfish, called a Stumpknocker locally. I lifted it to take the hook out when a flash of something went by. A Barred Owl had ripped the fish away from me.
That gave others the idea. The next fish I caught I looked up to see another Owl heading straight for me. You would not believe how big their claws look when the forced perspective of them out in front of the body confronts you.
After that I would toss the smaller fish onto the bank and let them fight it out. At one point I had six of them following me around. Kathy got some great pictures of them.
Last year none showed up. I asked the Ranger and he said they had to have them removed after another fisher got clawed. Barred Owls are considered a nuisance in many areas because they have moved into urban areas, are aggressive as hell, and raid Screech Owls nests.
Owls!! Owls are so cool!
My dad taught me to talk Owl when I was small. Like, for real. We had actual conversations with owls. Wish I understood what they said back.
Also, only amazing books have owls in them. Fact.
I'd get an owl to carry my post and look creepy and awesome for visitors, but a) that's cruel and b) they're not as smart as they'd like you to think they are (looking at you, Wol) and are almost impossible to train.
Toowit, toowoo!
OP, I wish I was one of your students!
I love how Mommy and Daddy are perched close to one another and seem to be in the middle of talking and worrying about the little one.
I'm not sure I've ever seen an in-person owl, other than at animal events or refuges or whatever. Birds are just so very neat (and I'm always wildly interested when the "trainability" of something comes up because apparently that's just who I am now as a person)
I'm glad that you had a great day in the office yesterday, Janet!
I was just getting ready to take the puppy out and realized today was a twitter pitch day, so I might as well send my missive into the ether
OP, you must be a wonderful teacher! I love the owl family. Thanks for sharing.
I love owls. We have a big one that loves to fly right past us and hoot right outside my window at 3 a.m.
That is so cool! Thanks for sharing, OP. Glad I checked Janet's blog today!
I've sponsored owls for rehabilitation. My favourite thing about the sponsor tour was hearing Nick and Nora, two great horned owls, hooting at each other.
My first novel was about an owl. I've decided that all future novels will have an owl in them, even if it's just a flyby role.
Beautiful pictures! Thank you Janet and OP for a gorgeous post.
That is an awesome story. I love owls. I haven't seen one for ages, although our backyard has had tawny frogmouth (not an owl although looks like it should be).
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