Jays, Crows and Owls!

I realize it has been a long time since I updated the blog, and I apologize for not having done so earlier. I hope you take it as a sign of me doing other things besides birdwatching and blogging! Now back to the blog...

Thursday, March 27^th:

10:30 AM, Light rain, Temperature: 8 C (47 F)

Arrived in my office and was welcomed by a pair of jays calling incessantly near the pond. There were also a few interspersed calls of crows. I looked out to find the poor owl being harassed by four birds – a couple of crows accompanied by a couple of jays! They chased the owl from its roost, who made a lazy attempt to get rid of its tormentors by flying towards the bridge. The crows and jays followed in close pursuit and the chase continued in the area between the pond and the bridge until the owl finally found refuge in a clump of branches of a fallen tree.

The owl perched in plain sight, almost directly beneath my office window!

For now it seemed that the owl had made peace with its neighbors and could get on with its daytime roosting. But it was not to last too long. Within fifteen minutes, Jasper was drawn to the commotion, and joined the crows in driving away the ‘intruder’. Jasper made a few swooping flights approaching very close to the owl. The owl got the message and took off to the north past San Martin drive.

Friday, March 28^th:

10:20 AM, Very overcast, Temperature: 15 C (59 F)

One of the owls was again being harassed today near the north side of the pond by jays and crows. It perched for a while on a stump near Olin hall, where it was in relatively plain sight. Here it stayed and preened. I also noticed the second owl roosting peacefully in the clump of the fallen tree. This is one of their favored roosting sights at the pond. In a few minutes, the owl from the stump flew to its partner and both owls seemed to snuggle together. There was certainly a display of mutual connection between the two birds and sometimes their interaction involved locking of beaks together resembling a kiss. It was a rare opportunity just to have both owls here together and to observe their interactions was surely a treat!

The Owl pair is well sheltered in this clump of branches a few feet off the ground.

The pair shifts their roost a little closer to Olin hall. It seems there is not much cover here for the birds, but their camouflage works just fine on this gray afternoon when the contrast is low.

3:00 PM, Temperature 19 C (67 F)

The owl pair decided to shift their roost a little closer to Olin Hall and found a tree near the fence and each picked a branch, one above the other. Here there was not much cover, but their camouflage kept them invisible for almost an hour, when they were discovered by a crow. The first crow quickly called to his buddies and soon there was a gang of five crows surrounding the two owls. One of the owls in this instance was more aggressive and chose to take the fight to the crows. It charged at two of them and then moved to another clump near the fence and over the water. The second owl paid no attention to the crows for a while. When it had enough of the crow ruckus it too drove off one of the crows and joined its partner. There the crows tried to regroup, but soon gave up, leaving all but one crow to carry on its cawing. The aggressive owl soon scared it off and returned to its morning’s perch. The second owl figured it was not worth moving again and stayed put for another 3 hours. Around 7 pm, both owls interacted briefly near the pond and flew off west towards the park.

Finally, a good spot to spend the rest of the day napping in peace!

Eggs arrive on Easter!

Sunday, March 23^rd:

4:15 PM, Temperature: 8 C (47 F)

Blake sent me an email on Saturday stating he had seen Cinnamon on the nest and had also observed Jasper bring a squirrel to her. I immediately suspected that Cinnamon had laid the first egg of the season. So, today I took a short walk to the nest to document this new development.

The nest had grown a lot in size by now and approaching Olin Hall from the east I couldn’t see anything on the nest. Once on the west side of the nest, I could clearly see Cinnamon’s tail sticking out over the edge. I moved to the bridge on San Martin Drive and was observing through my binoculars when I heard a few short calls kee-ah, kee-ah, to the north followed by a response from the nest. Cinnamon took off and flew straight in the direction of the caller.

Jasper and Cinnamon have been busy enlarging the nest in the past 3 weeks.

It was Jasper returning from a hunt. Both birds met on one of the oaks, where I saw Jasper hand over a snake to Cinnamon! I had never seen this before and it was really cool. Jasper flew a little aside and perched a few feet from Cinnamon. Then I saw one of the most unusual of wildlife scenes: As Cinnamon was starting to feed on the snake, Jasper mounted her and the two mated for about 10 seconds, Jasper calling in rapid succession during the entire session! This is probably the bird equivalent of a man treating his woman to a delicious dinner followed by (or in this case at the dinner table) rapturous sex!

Jasper (left) pauses before taking off on another hunt, while Cinnamon (right) is ready to resume incubation.

Cinnamon flew back towards the nest, perched on a branch for few minutes and resumed her incubatory duties while Jasper made a few soaring flights and flew south, perhaps for another kill. While I kept an eye on the events at the nest, I also heard a couple of hoots coming from near the pond indicating the presence of the Barred Owl.

Cinnamon's tail sticks out above the nest rim as she incubates her eggs.

I went down behind Olin Hall and looked across the pond for signs of the owl. The sun was low in the sky and shone through the confusion of dry vines and bare branches, illuminating the white underside of the owl, which was fortunately facing the sun and me. The outline of this white shape and a hint of the large, black eyes among the pattern of brown and gray was enough for me to spot the bird. I trained my binoculars on the shape and noticed the plumage on the bird’s breast and belly which was a fresh white, with only a few dark streaks. Comparatively, its face was a little dull and dark. I am still unsure as to which of the owls this was, but it may be the previously disheveled bird. A few good looks more, and I hope to resolve the case of identifying each of these birds!