Last Sunday I received a call from Ramona Latham at the Cape Ann Discovery Center (Ravenswood). She told me that a Barred Owl had set up a nest for her babies in one of the treetops. While I was snapping photos of the baby owls, the Mama* owl stopped by with lunch for her children. A nice plump snake! I have never seen an owl in real life, so this bit of luck was a special treat. Some quick facts about the barred owl:
· Commonly referred to as a “Hoot Owl.” Listen to its call here: http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/Song/h3680so.mp3
· A Barred Owl’s wingspan can reach 44 inches.
· They typically hunt at night or at dusk by sitting on a high perch, looking and listening for prey, which they catch with a short flight or drop to the ground.
· Adult Barred Owls swallow their prey whole. Their stomach acids digest the soft parts, and then they regurgitate a pellet containing the bones and hair.
· Barred Owls sometimes go fishing. They will wade knee-deep in water and catch fish with their feet.
· Barred Owls generally live alone except when mating or raising young, and are known to find the same mate every year.
Thanks to Ramona for her phone call. If you want to visit the Discovery Center or Ravenswood, click here for more info: http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/northeast-ma/ravenswood-park.html. Ramona runs a variety of fun and educational programs for children and adults throughout the year. Don’t miss out!
*This owl may have been the Papa owl too, no disrespect intended! J
Good Morning Gloucester 
Ooooooh! How exciting to have seen that. Thanks so much for the photos. I’m a huge bird geek and owls, falcons, any of the raptors are just amazing to me. Wish I’d been there!
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wow!!- Wild Kingdom right here on Cape Ann! That Terry Weber is amazingly talented. GMG should double her salary!
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Lois, I am going to double your salary for doing my PR…
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Lois, what’s 2X Nothin’
great shots terry. I love owls.
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What a great post and wonderful photos!
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Great photos. She was checking you out.
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Great capture Terry–love the snake dangling from mom/pop’s mouth!
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great photos.. so cool
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Hey you guys, thanks for the comments. I’m a big fan of all those wildlife shows too, so this opportunity was pretty cool.
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If it doesn’t disturb the owl, go to the base of the tree and pick up some owl pellets. The owl swallows that snake whole but then later spits out a pellet contain all the bones. You can get whole sets of nice clean bones of all sorts of creatures this way.
If you bring them to mug up and lay them out next to the food it might help me stay on my diet. 😉
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Paul, would it shock you if I actually did that? Anything to help out a friend. 😉
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Go for it. My sister showed me some and I thought they were pretty cool. I wanted to take all the bones and reconstruct a mouse.
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okay, but don’t tell anyone.
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Terry – great photos and information! Thanks for posting!
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