Forget everything I said before about what I was going to write about today. It was a very exciting morning, dawn actually. And then things got REALLY interesting. This is going to be the short version of the story…because… it is still in progress…

My human parent, Jeanne, wrote the narrative as it happened since I was preoccupied.

Before 7:00 am, still dark, I see a silhouette standing on the edge of a big blue pot. It moves around, turns, poops into pot, hops down into pot, pecks around. Then it hops up to rim, fans wings, hops down into garden. It begins walking around, exploring slowly. Eventually it reaches the border between garden and marsh.

Dale is photographing all this until Happy Feet gets dangerously close to the mucky marsh. Dale to the rescue!

Towel trick, red gloved hands, picks up owlet and carefully places on trunk of the nest tree. Whew!

After long rest, the wayward outlet begins to climb up branches and then out and out and higher to thin branches not sturdy enough so suddenly it falls (or decides to jump?), wings flapping vigorously and lands back on the ground. Unharmed (it appears).

Sky Diver begins exploring again, walking faster and farther away from the nest tree. By now 2.5 hours have passed and sibling owlet has been sitting quietly high above the nest just watching.

Another hour and a half passes and Happy Feet has reached a water filled creeklet which it is determined to cross…somehow.

Oops! “I don’t know how to swim but yikes I’m in the water and all wet! And it’s SALTY!”

Mother/Father owl has been perched in a nearby tree on the high marsh island, softly calling in a cooing version (of the typical hooting) to encourage the owlet forward.  Dale (our human owlet, Dalet), with amazing patience is photographing this whole owlventure as it unfolds. It is now noon. And this is the short version of the story!!!

OK It’s me, Dalet, back. Thanks Mom for taking us up to noon with a guest blog! There is SO MUCH MORE to this story and photos!!! Constant contact with Center for Birds of Prey, adjacent neighbors, monitoring, listening, checking, photographing, deciding best options, etc. etc. Neighborhood watch program set up. Bridge building discussed. Ladders back out. Code Red again. And again. I am exhausted. The above photo says it all.

It is almost midnight. The Ides of March. But in our kingdom, all is right in our natural world – so far. Both owlets in tree. Both parents in attendance nearby. Lots of owl conversation. We’re good. At least until dawn 😉

And we still have not had a chance to dissect the owl pellets we collected a few days ago. The way things are going around here, I am afraid they are going to be eaten by us for hors o’devours!

The rest of the story as soon as the new stories abate! Going out for bed check and listening. I wonder…………………