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| Western Screech Owl on Powerline Trail / John Reinke |
Actually, the little western screech-owl didn't make a sound, as it silently surveyed me from its vantage point in a
hole in a tree trunk. And I don't know if it was a male or a female.
I was ascending the Powerline Trail in the late afternoon about a month ago, from its western terminus at the Sammamish River Trail here in Redmond. After a few minutes, I came to a spot where I knew one could see a tree trunk with an oval opening that was large enough to serve as a nest cavity.
I hadn't passed that way since last year, when my friend Bob Yoder had published a photo of an adult screech owl peering out of that very same space on his Redmond Blog. The discovery and photos were taken by his friend Ingunn Markiewiez.
I glanced to my right, and saw what looked like a kind of growth occupying the cavity. I thought that was odd, and continued climbing upward. I had also noticed there was a kind of cobweb covering the upper part of the opening.
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| Credit/ John Reinke (click photo) |
So as not to startle it, I slowly reached for my camera. The owl was no more than 15 feet from me, at about eye level, due to the downward sloping hillside.
I snapped off a few shots, showing the tree against the surrounding foliage, with the owl calmly nestled in the cavity. I then zoomed in on it and took several more photos. One of the photos shows the owl blinking one eye.
