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!