Jean reports on West Drive owls

Photo by Bruce Yolton - 2/16/06
[This is the owl that always flew out second. We believe it's the one now seen flying out of the West Drive cavity around 6pm.]

The weather was horrible yesterday, but faithful Jean e-mailed her report at 8 p.m. Here it is:


Marie -

Well, it was just Bruce and me this evening - and quite sloppish out there, though not as blisteringly cold and windy, at least, as the weatherpeople had promised. Bruce had been there since shortly after 5, and said the ESO we've been thinking was the female appeared, disappeared, reappeared several times in the doorway - like the trading-places routine the pair did for two nights last weekend, except this was always only one - the smaller, paler, more rumpled owl with the prominent bucktooth beak. By 5:40 when I arrived, she was just standing there watching.

Flyout was exactly 6:00, and she flew unusually high again (remember we noticed the same pattern on snow-days awhile back). We thought she might have stuck in a tree just park-side of the wall, but careful checking turned up no owl, so chances are she went directly over the wall into city streets.

Just in case she had doubled back, we checked the higher ground above the little stream that goes under the bridge - where she had her breakfast a couple of nights ago (no joy this time) - and then we left the park and checked, pretty carefully, first block of the street where we guessed she might have gone. We found several spots we thought would be attractive for an owl, but figured wrong, apparently - she's out there somewhere, for the night, and I hope she's finding something nice and warm and nourishing.

Fourth flyout in a row, only one flier.

Jean Dane