I ended up being the only regular at the fly out on Thursday.  It was
cloudy, with a few rain drops, and turned colder as it got darker.  A
birder on a bike, stopped by and go to see his first Eastern
Screech-Owl.

I couldn’t capture pictures of the behavior, but soon after this picture was taken the fledgling “caught” a sweet gum seed pod, and flew and played with it just like a Red-tailed hawk fledgling would play with a stick.  It was fun to watch.

The parents soon joined the fledgling, and did some warm up flying between trees.  They ended up in a tree with leaf cover and I lost them.

Today, marked one full month of study. Soon, we’ll be unable to keep track of them as the leaf cover will be too thick. It’s been fun watching them.

I was the only one up at the nest when I went up on Wednesday, although I’m sure Chris was by in the morning and evening with her dog Fig.

It was raining when I arrived at 6 p.m., so I didn’t stay for the fly out.  The owls are getting harder to find in the Willow, as its leaves fill out.

Today was the first day, all three owls spent the evening outside, roosting on a tall Willow.  The Fledgling was in the center, protected on each side by a parent.  There were lots of owl watchers this evening, Chris, Marie, Jim, Noreen, Jean and myself along with some park visitors.

I couldn’t stop by the owls for the fly out this evening, but since they were now visible in the daytime, I went to see them on my way home from the northern Manhattan hawk nests.  I ran into Jean and showed her the new tree.  Only Herringbone, which everyone in our group now agrees is the male adult, was visible.

After the Fledgling was spotted out in the open, I though I would have a good chance seeing it during the daytime on Saturday.  Chris emailed, that the owl was in the same tree as yesterday, so I went up in the early afternoon.

I couldn’t find the owls but a birder named Kathy was there watching two Starlings display and copulate.  I asked her if she had seen the owls and she said no but helped me look.  She found Herringbone in a tree just north of the Hawthorne tree.

The Fledgling and Trident made themselves visible when the Fledgling started looking at an ant and followed it as it moved along the tree!

Marie had been predicting that the Fledgling would soon be independent.  I had argued back that without tree cover or warm weather, the family might stay in the cavity longer than would be normal.

Today, Chris found the Fledgling in a Hawthorne tree, where it most likely spent the day.  Ironically, it was a warm day, trees were not leaf covered but enough buds were on the tree to hide the bird, and it was the correct time for the fledgling to start being independent.  So, no clear answer to our riddle.

Owl watchers for the evening were Jim, Chris, Noreen, Barbara and myself.