Melanie
Forum Replies Created
Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
-
Myhusband and I were walking our terrier with a neighbor who had a hound mix. We keep our dogs on leashes. There is a little 7.5 acre part near our house right in the town of Arlington, VA. We are a block from the metro. A snag was created and as we walked by the snag on the trail, our dogs suddenly stopped. The hound pointed and my terrier looked low on the ground. There were 4 jumpers, baby Screech Owls, looking at us from the ground. The parents were in the tree over us. We had seen dogs off the leash in the park so called animal control I took a few quick shots with my phone to record this amazing event. Animal control got the owners to leash their dogs. Our dogs were cool about it all. We sealed off the area to let the young owls climb up and within a few days they were gone. What an exciting event. We did get some friends with really good cameras to take pictures. We also have Barred Owls in the neighborhood and one of them flew down over the neighbors' Corgy. We couldn't hear it. It appeared in the night and appeared to rake the back of the Corgy. That was amazing. We had an irruption of Snowy Owls appear at the Reagan National Airport about two winters ago. That was great fun to go out on the observation area and see them.
-
Owls appear to be very solitary. They get together to mate and have young, but the male does a lot of the hunting and the female stays on the nest and feeds the young. When I went to count owls at Mount Vernon (there are Screech Owls near the parking lot, Barred Owls at the Tomb, and Great Horned Owls in the plastic Verizon tree), we began our soundings with those of the smaller owls because large owls eat smaller owls and we didn't want to scare the Screech Owls away. We did not spot Screech Owls that night. But when we went up to the Verizon tree which is the tallest on the property, the male Great Horned Owl called out. He flew down first, made a loud hooting sound, then flew up. The female made a softer hooting sound that sounded farther away. Owls hunt many kinds of prey in a solitary manner and at night. Burrowing Owls will form loose colonies and young owls may hang out with with each other before taking off on their own. When our dog found Screech Owls in our local park (don't worry, I always leash him and he is a terrier and prefers rodents so he was curious as to why he found) I noticed the young had jumped the nest and the adults were up in the tree watching over them . They young then jumped up other trees to get back to the nest. Within a day or two they had fledged and left the nest. Owls will get mobbed by crows. On the Audubon Winter Bird Count at Fort Belvoir we noticed mob action and spotted a Great Horned Owl. In Senegal, Owls are considered to be sorcerers and are regarded at a distance. I find owls in movies, books, and art work. Once at the National Gallery of Art East Wing there was a massive pairing done during the Edo period and owls were included. Owls are fascinating and we love them in our family.
-
My most memorable experience with an owl was when I felt its wings beating. It was like a strong breeze in the middle of the night. I was at a Girl Scout camp at Mendota, Illinois. We took a night hike. The girls were noisy, as usual. That was all right because I didn't feel alone. Then we came to a really dark part of the trail and stopped. We clicked off our flashlights. The, a Hoo - hoo a hoo a hoo. The girls screamed and ran back. I sat down, still, sensing the air, the night. The owl flew over me and beat its wings, flying with a strength and force. The wind of its wings covers me with a complete feeling of its presence. Then, it was gone. I went back to the lodge and wrote the experience down in a journal. It was too precious to lose. Later, in my 30's I saw a tiny owl in Ankarafantsika Forest during the day. I took a photo and will keep it always.
Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)