July 27, 2010

       Yesterday was a stressful one, but in a good way, sort of.  All day I was battling with the jays.  Olive was sleeping in Tree #1, her usual  spot.  The jays don't seem to bother her much, maybe because she really looks like a part of the redwood tree where she sleeps.  In addition, she just doesn't move even if they do spot her.  Oscar and Othello, on the other hand, seem to poke a rage button in the jays and those jays are relentless.  Oscar has been spending the days in a tree in my neighbor's yard, across a dirt road behind our yard.  There are some really tall trees in his yard and I've not been able to actually see Oscar over there, but nothing arouses the ire of the jays like a cute baby owl.  Othello has his usual safe spot in Tree #2, but yesterday the only owl I could see, all day, was Olive.  Yet the jays were screeching and yowling all day and I could tell that they were in the yard behind us.  I hoped that the two kids were safe, but I knew they weren't hidden very well if the jays were on to them.
            Ivan and I had our supper outside as usual and, for once, it was quiet.  We went back inside around 7:30 and about 10 minutes later the jay racket began once again.  I knew the owls would be getting ready for the evening's activities, so I grabbed my rubber band gun and raced outside.  Olive was asleep in Tree #1.  The jays seemed to be concentrated around #4 and #5 and they were in our yard.  I ran over there, but had no clear shot so I was banging on the branches with my gun, and standing on the fence in my efforts to see where, exactly, they were.  I had checked the tops of the trees where the kids usually stay, but neither was there.  The jays were so strident, I just knew that they must have the owls cornered somewhere.  After about 10 minutes of racing around banging on branches and trying to make the jays go away, I paused and noticed that it was very quiet.  The jays had left my yard.  My heart was beating very fast as I climbed down from the fence.  I turned to go back to check on Olive and was absolutely astonished to see Othello, then Oscar, sitting on branches of Tree #4 about 5' from me!  Both were staring at me and they looked so tiny!  I returned the stare, dumbstruck, then walked away as calmly as I could.  I hurried into the house and told Ivan to grab his camera and come outside.  I figured the two owls would surely have retreated to the top of the tree, but they were still sitting on their branches.  These little guys are surely the cutest owls ever!  Below are 2 of the photos Ivan took.  Below each photo I'll tell you who it is and how I know.

This is Othello, the baby.  
Look at his chest - he has almost no vertical stripes, but has the horizontal stripes that he had when we first saw him.  
Still has some baby fuzz, though.  I saw him first yesterday evening and had to resist the urge to go over and touch him!

This is Oscar, the owl who was knocked out of the tree the other day.  Take a look at his chest.  
He, to those who don't really know him like we do, looks like an adult, complete with the vertical markings on his chest.  
His fuzz is gone.  Don't his feet look big?!  
I tell you, I'm just totally smitten with these guys!  
(NOTE:  Each of these little owls is about 6" tall right now.)