Birds are so fun to watch and listen to.  We have a bunch of preditor birds around (owls, eagles, osprey, hawks) and so there’s been very little small bird activity.

We enjoy listening to the screech owl in our back yard trees in the evening.  Its a pleasant, soothing sound (hardly a screech).  I don’t know where the nest is but have a general idea.  Last year the house across the street behind us had a screech owl nesting on their front porch.  I didn’t get to see the babies, but I did see the ones in the trees next door.  The owners were having their trees trimmed and the tree people came upon a nest so they stopped trimming.  The owlettes moved to lower bushes and sat and stared at us.  They were beautiful.

Yesterday my younger son and I were working on the back lanai and he pointed out to me a pile of feathers under a tree.  I went out to look and discovered several handfuls of what I would suspect to be owl feathers.  No sign of struggle (the yard is mulched and nothing was out of place).  Shortly afterward, a neighbor stopped by and I showed him the feathers.  He’s the VP of our Audubon Society.  He speculated that our little owl was captured, probably by the Great Horned Owl that’s nested in the area and has fledglings.  He was on the hunt for owls that night because I had told him I heard of a snowy owl spotting near by.  Since no snowy owl has ever been spotted in FL he’s guessing it’s a Great Horned Owl’s baby that was seen.  Apparently they are yellowish-white and could be mistaken for a snowy owl.   I couldn’t go owling with him but maybe I’ll set out tonight looking for them. 

I do hope there’s another screech owl nearby for me to listen to.