An Owl’s Breakfast

Barred owl looking for breakfast

Barred owls make their presence known at dusk by their distinctive “who cooks for you, who cooks for them all” calls.  We figure the pair is just checking in with each other before they go off hunting for the night.  Several recent evenings after the long afternoon shadows melted into near darkness, one of the owls glided to the ground near us.  It grabbed something from the grass and moved to a tree limb.  One evening it flew back to the woods and then returned to the ground in front us so we believe it was hunting for food to feed chicks. Later both owls were stealthily at work near the barn and trailer but we could barely see them as it was dark by that time.  We concluded that our little solar yard lights attracted bugs and small critters which is why we frequently see the owls hunting in this area.

Last Saturday around 7:00 a.m. while we were eating our breakfast, we were serenaded by the usual many bird dawn songs that get more abundant as daylight brightens.  We noticed a big bird flying among the trees in the distance and we were distracted by a song bird we could not identify.   Suddenly, the large bird glided through the air straight for us.  It was barred owl!  I guess it decided we were too big for its breakfast, so it perched on a limb nearby.  Suddenly, the cheery morning songs birds fell silent and their songs were replaced by repeated alarm calls of a single Carolina wren. Through the binoculars I saw that the little, but very vocal, wren had a bug in its mouth (how can it chirp with a bug in its mouth?).  It was probably planning to take the bug back to its nest to feed its chicks.  The bird of prey perched nearby clearly caused the wren distress.  

From the limb, the owl eyes and head actively searched the ground and trees. Most eerily, it seemed at times to stare straight at us. I was ready to duck if it spread its wings to glide our way. Mostly, it kept close tabs on a squirrel scurrying around the base of another tree.  The owl was very patient but we were not and we had work to do so we finally got up to start our morning project.  We don’t know if the wren got to its nest with the bug for breakfast or if the squirrel survived to scamper another day.

This is the first time we’ve seen the owl hunt in daylight so we believe it probably has a nest of chicks and to spend more time hunting.  Just like the little wren, not only was the owl hunting for its own breakfast, but also breakfast for its chicks.