Fledged Barred Owl – White Rock Lake

How precious! My mother inlaw has a pair of barred owls that come and have babies every spring in a huge nest in the pine tree in their front yard. For two years straight they had babies fall out.. The first year, we kept an eye and made sure the baby got back to the momma, and he started flying very shortly after.. This past spring we had one fall way earlier, he was still very young, all down feathers.. So we kept him in the front yard in a tree where the mom and dad could keep an eye on him.. Eventually his sibling fell out of the nest too.. We could tell the difference because the one we called Hooty was a little bigger, and fatter, and he always called to us, in that high pitch call when we talked to him.. After they learned to fly, we could find them in the trees across the street, or in the wooded area at the end of the street.. Hooty always called to us, from no matter where he was, every time we called for him.. It wasn’t until this past two weeks, he finally has taken off with his family too far off into the woods for us to hear him.. But I just love how they come back every year, and how they recognize us, our faces and voices.. Only Hooty would call back to us, the other baby and parents would watch us, and the parents would hoot and flare up if we got too close.. But Hooty knew us, and we love him dearly.. We are so happy he is out on his own, but we miss him.. We can’t wait for next spring to see the next batch of babies!!