A two-owl weekend

 BARRED OWL  --   The Ramble--November 3, 2011
photo courtesy of PaleMale.com

[Sorry, failed to find a photo of Sunday's Saw-Whet.]

Doug Kurz reports on eBirdsNYC:

Saturday's star was a magnificent BARRED OWL, while Sunday gave us an adorable SAW-WHET OWL. Both birds were impacted by observers; the Barred Owl kept shifting to higher and higher roosts as the groups of finger-pointing birders increased, while the Saw-whet had to be protected by the Conservancy putting up barricades to keep out overzealous photographers and birders. A Conservancy worker told me that people had actually been climbing into the very branches where the poor little owl was roosting. I hope everyone will remember to respect the birds and keep as great a distance as practicable, particularly with roosting owls. (I'll never forget seeing a family of four birders, parents with two boys, beating a small pine tree with sticks on the median strip at Jones Beach, because they couldn't immediately locate a Saw-whet Owl. Fortunately they failed altogether, and the owl was there the whole time. I won't even say what I wanted to do to them!)