When the crows really mob one of my local owls it isn’t that hard to notice. Yesterday afternoon one of the Juvenile Great Horned Owlets was having a bad afternoon, which I heard while reading on my living room couch. I hiked 2/3 of a mile over to the source of the attack in the forest, and it was still in progress! In this short video, one of the crows makes an appearance which is when one realizes just how close the crows get to the owl. (video link for email subscribers)

And some images … all taken during the crow attack, from two different vantage points.

The Great Horned Owlets are now juveniles, but they have  not yet been kicked out of the territory by their parents. Everything seems one month behind this year. Unlike prior years these owlets did not hatch till the very end of March. In the prior years the Great Horned Owls nested a month earlier, but this Spring was long, cold and snowy (white stuff on the ground till the end of April).

Yesterday afternoon would not have seemed like a great day to take a bird hike and go owling. In fact, if you pay attention while watching the video (video link for email subscribers), one may easily tell there was rain coming down from the heavens. The rain and strong wind coming in off Lake Superior made for an extremely blustery day.

Video: Watching an Owl … Ignoring a Chickadee

Here are some of my favorite moments from yesterday’s afternoon photoshoot with the Amity Owlets. Soon they will be forced to leave the neighborhood.

American Redstart … Ignore it, and hopefully the little squirt will leave.

It did!

What I think of your darn camera! (maximize for full effect)

Time to bug my sibling … he, he, heee!

Remember the movie Mary Poppins, and how she stated she would take care of the Banks children till the wind changed??! Migrating birds have a similar view and when the wind shifted out of the NW around sunrise this morning, migration was back on! In my own yard I discovered that one of my two mountain ash trees had ripe berries, while one did not. Around 11 am migrating waxwings cleaned out one of my trees of all of its berries in 20 minutes, and totally ignored the mountain ash tree with lighter red fruit. Most of the this morning’s flock appeared to be juveniles.

Cedar Waxwings