SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Adventures & NiteTime Antics

Babies rasping for food while an owl is on the playground.. no beak snapping if it was a stranger owl, no "Mantling" or "Toe dusting". just rasping and acting (excitement) as if food was going to come in.
The owl came three times. Once to the playground and twice to the front porch.

“mantling” is a display in which the birds spread their wings, puff out their body
feathers and spread their tail in an attempt to look larger than they really
are.
Toe dusting is often done in conjunction with mantling, and it involves the
owls dropping their heads toward the ground and swishing them back and forth
quickly.
The combined activities are meant to deter a potential predator from coming any closer, and the impressive wing spread combined with the bizarre movements really can be intimidating.

When disturbed or threatened, the barn owl performs a fascinating
defensive display called “toe dusting.” While loudly hissing and clacking its beak,
the owl leans over, squints its eyes, opens its wings and sways its body. As it shifts
from foot to foot, it intermittently looks down, almost touching the ground with its
bill, and sweeps its head from side to side.





Is this a parent trying to lure out one of the owlets??

video is on the second visit