Barred Owls!

All day long I anticipated going to Whatcom Falls Park this evening to look for owls. My good friend Deborah posted photos of the owl family from last night. She saw three young and both parents. I was really excited and hoped to see them tonight. We went down to the park around 8:30. I overheard some fellows talking about owls and they pointed the way. I could hear the young ones calling. Sure enough there they were.

There were two young and one adult. One of the young was on a tree very near to the path. He was bobbing his head so I responded by bobbing mine up and down too. He was quite interested and let me get very close.

The first photo on Chaikins of Bellingham is the best one I got of the baby who came close to us. He flew off to join his sibling up in a tree.

Who should take his place on the close tree but one of the adults. She sat there and let us take her picture for quite awhile. Then she kept looking down. The tree was on a small beach by Whatcom Creek. She flew down, went into a small depression in the sand, and caught something. She carried it up to another tall tree and one of the young flew up to her to be fed. It was brilliant seeing them. And there was enough light to get a half way decent picture of them. Take a look at the large version.