A flopped bundle of feathers

This is a three-week-old Barred Owlet, really just a bundle of fluff that was too young to do anything : ) It and its only sibling were carefully brought down from the nesting box to show a group of us bird lovers and photographers, so this is not a "natural" photo, but a posed one. Of course, me being me, I loved the bright orange lichen that was growing on this branch, too : ) On 4 June 2013, we had such a great day! I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) on private land up near Edmonton. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and I up there - I appreciate it SO much! Good to have the company of you guys - made the journey seem shorter : )

The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! Richard's paid work (his endless work with owls and other raptors is all voluntary) gets busier from now on, plus his summer weekends will be spent with his family (good for him!), so really this was the last chance he'd be able to do this. As usual, we felt so privileged to get this wonderful chance! Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded one of these that he hadn't banded with the others the other day), and both the Barred Owlets. One of the Saw-whets was only about a week old and the other was three weeks old. The Barred Owlets were very much bigger than the Saw-whets. The female adults of both families were high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on, so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ))))))) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Lovely to meet you, Don, and the rest of you! Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. Your young daughter (5 years old) is so lucky to be brought up with so many incredible opportunities and such a love of nature. What a keen eye she has, finding all sorts of interesting things for us to see, including a little Wood Frog (photo posted today, too). Wonderful to see such caring, gentleness and joy for all flora and fauna from such a young child, not to mention her knowledge about all these things! I was so impressed : )

Previously posted photo of an adult Barrred Owl (seen at a talk at the University of Calgary a few years ago) is in a comment box below.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/id

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_Owl

It's pouring with rain and thunder here this afternoon and I'm so glad : ) Waiting for my car to be looked at and fixed next Tuesday, so I am avoiding going out anywhere for these few days. A wet day makes it easier to bear, ha.

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