Date: 4/25/24 7:38 am From: James Phillips <jimandjudyphillips...> Subject: Owl Week!
This has been owl week for us. We visited a great horned owl nest along the Greenbrier River, Summers County and had great looks at an owlet. Then we went to another nest near Kitchen Creek in Monroe County where we saw two owlets in a nest. At 4:50 this morning I was awakened by the hoots of a great horned owl. It sounded like it was in the house. I checked rooms until I found where the sound was nearest and sat in a chair and listened. The bird must have been in a white pine just off from our front porch. I sat in a chair with the window and wall the only things between me and the bird. It did the 5 hoots twice a minute until 5:13 a.m. Then it changed to 1 set of hoots a minute until 5:30 a.m. I timed it with the clock on our kitchen stove. Then it stopped calling.
We have also been excited to have eastern screech owls using our nest box next to our garage. We had been seeing only one bird until this week when we got to see the second bird. Last evening, one bird appeared in the entrance hole at 8:00. A blue jay spotted it and started fussing at the owl and it dropped back into the box. About 20 minutes later I was watching the hole when an owl flew in and stopped a second at the entrance and then flew on. I checked again at about 8:30 and two adults flew out of the box and headed for the woods. One returned right away and then the other one. They did this same action until it was too dark for us to see them. Jim & Judy Phillips Summers County Pipestem, WV
