We have cute baby pictures!
Ijams Nature Center is pleased to announce that the first photos of a young barred owl were captured by our own Rex McDaniel last Thursday.
The nest cavity is high in a tree on the Ijams Homesite near the Lotus Pond built by H.P. Ijams for his daughters to use in 1924.
Barred owls preferred habitat is woods near water. They feed their young a variety of cold-blooded animals like frogs, salamanders, crawdads and even fish (in this case, our unwanted goldfish) plus mice, moles and shrews.
At this point, the young are called branchies, because they are too big to remain in the nesthole and move out onto the tree's branches to await their next meal, and the next, and the next; well you get the idea. The parent owls even hunt during the day to feed their ravenous youngsters.
The TN Naturalist@Ijams bird class that I taught last Saturday afternoon was also able to see glimpses of the branchies in the high canopy on our walk in the woods.
Thank you, Rex who always has the patience it takes to get the perfect photo. We know birdman H. P. Ijams would be so proud to know he built a barred owl magnet pond nine decades ago.
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| TN Naturalist@Ijams bird class |
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