Screech Owls-Undisclosed Location

[Irene]

I have been watching these guys for some time now, four small screech owls have been growing quickly and happily for a month now, they are flying really well and feeding on small birds and insects.

One of them likes to fly onto a poplar tree that has a nest of some kind of bug that bites! (Haven't stuck around long enough to find out what kind of bee/wasp or other) but here are some of the photos as of late. I noticed the owls are now going from being little fuzz balls to well colored and now pointy ears are emerging-I know they probably had ears before but I couldn't see them
enjoy the pictures...
Owl 1-


Owl-2


Owl 3


All tree together-I could not get the 4th one in seems he/she is camera shy LOL!



I am quite surprised they are quite active before the sun goes down, terrorizing the nesting catbirds and robins in the area, there are a lot of barn swallows too.
happy birding!
Irene

[rcflier]

Very nice.  Maybe #3 needs anger management training (LOL)?

[Irene]

#3 has a defect in his right eye, I'm surprised it has survived this long, but is doing well, he's the one that keeps hoping on the poplar tree to get the bugs ..a nice light snack He still winnies for his parent and the other birds are always "comforting" him and not too far away, they seem to protect this wee owl. don't let the photos fool you, they are not that big

[Reg]

Great set Irene, love seeing these little ones.

[Irene]

Thanks I will have an update closer to the weekend, the little one with the eye seems to be getting bigger, not sure if he's stealing the food from the others or if he's eating really healthy bugs! LOL I don't want to overdue the visits so they don't get used to seeing me hanging around too much.

[MEGHAN]

Hey Irene

I'm glad you finally posted these. I have been lurking on your Flickr site for a while now admiring these photos. I kept waiting for you to post them here.
Awesome. Really awesome.

The eye thing is called a blown pupil. It is quite common in birds but really hard to find info on it. I have seen it in Herons before but it doesn't seen to slow them down in the food catching department.
Mixed messages about it online. Some say it is caused by a brain injury of some sort, like swelling. Others say it is just a deformend pupil.
Either way this little one appears to be doing well, so lets hope he is just deformed  :lol:

Keep us updated as they grow and I am looking forward to more pictures of them.

Meghan

[Irene]

Thanks Meghan for the info on the eye stuff, the only other time I have seen injury to eyes was when we went to Mountsberg

If at any time I had felt the bird was in distress I would have called animal services or someone at Mountsberg for advice as to how to proced, but the little guy or gal is doing well and getting big, I didn't see him/her last night and only saw two owls
I did post some more shots

Irene

[beresford]

These are fantastic! THanks you so much for posting them!

[MEGHAN]

Hey Irene,

If you'd like, why don't you try sending the folks at Mountsberg and e-mail
mtsberg@hrca.on.ca
Attach a photo of the Owl with the wonky eye and see what kind of info they can provide.
It wouldn't hurt to see what they have to say about it.

Just an idea.

Meghan

[Irene]

Thanks Meghan I will do that!

[Irene]

Hey Irene,

If you'd like, why don't you try sending the folks at Mountsberg and e-mail
mtsberg@hrca.on.ca
Attach a photo of the Owl with the wonky eye and see what kind of info they can provide.
It wouldn't hurt to see what they have to say about it.

Just an idea.

Meghan

so I emailed Mountsberg, and have heard nothing yet..not sure how often they check their emails...I think my little love affair with the owls is over, went out this evening and there was one, but very elusive..I think I need to find a new bird-d'amour now ....will have to wait till fall/winter to see if the owls return.

[BoboBird]

Just saw this. Lovely little guys arent they.

I see you used a flash on them. How did they react to that?

Thanks for posting.

[Irene]

Not sure how to answer how they reacted to the flash, the owls seemed fine,(they didn't fall out of the trees or anything) I tried to take the pictures when it was still  light around 8pm.  I tried to get more while it was lighter outside, and tried to limit the night/darker shots to a minimum. it also it pretty dark in the forest where they were.