The Central Park Barred Owl was on a very low branch today. It got sunlight and being next to the trunk wasn’t being blown in the wind. Two squirrels gave it a hard time before fly out, but otherwise we saw then normal stretching and preening.

The owl flew southwest and hunted near where a man feeds pigeons and sparrows, and indirectly rats. We hear a noise that was hard to find. But the owl located the source, a squirrel at the top of a dead tree limb. It was the next stop for the owl. After a few attempts to catch the squirrel, the owl then flew west and we lost track of it.

After the snow changed to a drizzle, I went out to catch the Barred Owl fly out. The owl was tucked deep into the Hemlock, and came out to a more open branch ten minutes before fly out. It made a long flight to a low perch and then went 25 feet north to a higher perch. It called six times in a row before flying west out of sight.

After finally thinking I understood the Central Park Barred Owl, it did something completely different tonight.

It kept looking south before the fly out, when it usually looks north. So, at fly out it went south, down the Point and across the Lake to the trees east of Bethesda Fountain. These trees have roost site for other owls and raptors in the past, and I wonder if it was keeping an eye on another bird. But it certainly could be just that it was changing up hunting teritories.

So, after a nice run of extended post-fly out adventures, the evening was brief.

The Barred Owl had visits from a Cooper’s Hawk and a Red-tailed Hawk in the afternoon, so just before fly out it called four times. It’s wonderful to watch how it uses its entire body to make the call.

After fly out, the owl made a long flight. (Some kids had been playing in the woods near the roost, and I suspect the owl saw that the squirrels that normally explore there had scattered, so the owl skipped this normal stop tonight.)

I lost track of the owl but someone with good vision found the owl, and someone else was kind enough to find me as I had overshot. The owl was on a log, and then next to a stream where later in the year we usually find American Woodcock. It was an area I always skip looking at, but is a logical place to look and I will from now on.

The owl then perched along the frozen stream about 20 feet up, before going to a small tree it uses to hunt rodents. It waited about 20 minutes before going to the ground and out of sight. It returned to the perch after a minute. I think it caught something and quickly ate it on the ground, but I couldn’t see for sure. It then flew north.

Another wonderful night with the owl.

The owl was along the trunk of the Hemlock Tree when I arrived this afternoon. (It has been near the trunk on windy days.) It looked relaxed, so I went off birding. Much to my surprise when I returned, it had flown out early and was perched about 75 feet NW of the roost tree.

The owl was in to rush to go anywhere and kept its eye on about six squirrels. One decided to be a pest coming close to the owl. Two Cooper’s Hawks flew past, but they seemed more interested in each other than the owl.

The hawk then made a number of stops before settling down in the area where feeders are located for about fifteen minutes. I lost track of it but found it over a stream in a small tree that it has used many times before. This area has a regular animal feeder, who also feeds the rodents, so it must be a great place to hunt.

I tried using a 50mm lens tonight, which has a brighter aperture than my telephoto. I was rewarded with some nice flight shots, and a few hunting attempt. I was able to observe the owl until 6:30 p.m., the longest time I’ve been able to observe it.