Showing posts sorted by date for query western screech owl. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query western screech owl. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Friday, September 14, 2018

Western Screech Owl on Redmond Powerline Trail

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.

Credit/ John Reinke  (click photo)
It wasn't until I returned perhaps 15 minutes later, that I stopped to inspect the "growth" further.  I couldn't make out what it was exactly.  But then it moved!  I quickly realized I was looking at a western screech-owl, which had almost perfectly blended in with the surrounding tree bark.

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.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

What's this?

Credit/ Ingunn Markiewicz
What is this?

Credit/ Ingunn Markeiwicz
Powerline Trail
He/she is a Western Screech-Owl, probably foraging for small animals in the Sammamish River riparian-forested habitat.

It's pretty amazing I can walk 20 minutes to this little guy's home; and walk 20 minutes from my home in the opposite direction to urbanized Downtown Redmond.

Ingunn is an excellent writer and photographer.  She has a fascinating blog about motherhood, trail running & hiking:
www.trailsnail.com