Posts

Showing posts from October, 2013

Baby owls are the best!

Image
A few months ago I had the pleasure of performing Flammulated Owl nest surveys with Hawkwatch International. Biologists with Hawkwatch International have been creating artificial owl nests for quite a few years now, in order to increase flammulated owl presence in Utah and to decrease predation on fledged chicks. Karri Smith and I, representing Great Salt Lake Audubon, were able to spend a day with the biologists and chicks. Together we performed nest checks in order to inventory young. This involved taking each owlet from the nest, cuddling it, weighing it, and measuring its wing length. Tiny owl puffballs so trustingly slept in our hands while we worked. me with baby flammy! Biologist William hard at work, Karri Smith snapping shots, and me cuddling all the owls Flammy owl chick (aka cotton ball with eyes) Biologist Toby taking wing measurements Inside a nest mom observing We checked over 20 nests, hiking to each site, sneaking up to the nest and bl