Here’s the last photo I got of the owlets the day before they fledged. (To “fledge” is to leave the nest after you get your feathers.)
Both owlets fledged today! (Neither particularly gracefully ?) Parents withheld grub for the past day or so to encourage them. They’re out in the night now, learning to hunt for themselves!? ? pic.twitter.com/nwwRCuv2sA
— Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) May 10, 2023
As you can see, neither of them made the most graceful exit, but both left in tact and made it up into the trees behind our house. (I haven’t been able to spot them yet, but they’re around here somewhere.)
I will miss them, but so far I have avoided Tony Soprano levels of sad. Just feeling very grateful for the time we’ve had with them — we’ve been watching their parents since Thanksgiving of 2022. (And maybe earlier — it’s hard to know if the owls we first saw in 2020/2021 and in 2021/2022 were the same owls.)
And screech owls tend to stick close to home, so who knows: maybe we’ll see them in the box next year!
Filed under: Coconut the Owl