Barred Owl Nest Search
First blog post. Not sure if I will have the dedication to continue this over time but for now it sounds fun. My recent obsession has been Barred Owls. I had never seen an owl in the wild just month ago and now I see them almost every day. Turns out they are all around us, you just have to train your eye to look in the right places. Although I have gotten good at finding the owls, I have not had any luck finding where they nest. I have been searching off and on for a couple weeks now in all the areas where I have seen the owls. Im pretty sure I have taken a picture of, or inspected every tree that has a cavity within 2 square miles.
I went back out today with Koko by my side to inspect an area I have been seeing, what I believe is, a male barred owl. Ive seen enough males and females together at this point to usually be able to tell based off of the size. I found 4 different raccoons in cavities in a pretty small area. None were photo worthy as I could only see a little bit of hair sticking up from the darkness. Sadly I found one raccoon that was dead. It was in a hollow tree with a cavity that was just 4 feet off of the ground so I was able to look inside. Not sure if I should report this or not.
I was not successful in my search for the nest once again. I found one tree that seems like it has potential as I found what could have been an owl pellet at the base of it and some white wash (owl excretion) speckled around the tree on the leaves. I’m probably being hopeful in thinking it was an owl pellet because if i’m being honest with myself it probably wasn’t….
I did find my owl buddy by the end of it all at least. He is very skittish compared to the other owls Ive photographed in the area. He always seems to have huge round eyes won’t relax when I’m around. Maybe he will get used to me over time. I’m really hoping I will find one of the nests before foliage starts to get thick since that will hinder my visibility and maneuverability. For now I will be grateful for my many interactions with these beautiful creatures.
P.S. the deer is stomping the ground while staring down Koko. Koko was not intimidated.