Baby Barred Owl Watch 2024

Helen, May 7, 2023

Helen can be identified by the short eyebrow markings, with one eyebrow looking a little more hooked than the other. The eyebrows are not as connected to the ‘T’ that goes down the face. Compared to Bob, Helen’s body feather streaks are bolder.

Bob, March 9, 2023

Bob can be identified by a slightly broader-looking face with more distinct eyebrow markings. The eyebrows are longer than Helen’s, and one is slightly raised. The streaking in the body feathers is thinner than Helen’s. Generally, Bob seems a little lighter in colour than Helen.

At first, I couldn’t find the owls and I was getting worried, but then in an unusual turn of events, Bob emerged from the nest which I thought was a good sign. He flew off straight ahead before he landed in the tree he looked around a little bit, made a few calls, and then he returned to the nest. Then he stuck his head out of the nest, and he continued calling over and over again for five minutes, maybe a bit more, and as I left, he was still calling. Another owl was responding, but she never came over and eventually, the other call stopped, so I don’t know if this means that Helen is gone and Bob is maintaining the nest and looking for a new mate or if it’s just a coincidence.

It may also be that I’m seeing a different stage in their courtship rituals than I normally see — with the weather being so strange, the timing could all be off. Fingers crossed that Helen is ok and it was just a weird night.

The video I got is pretty crummy — this was already nearly an hour past sunset, and my equipment just isn’t made for that kind of low-light videography.

Helen, or possibly a different female owl, was waiting on the nest “porch”. There’s some doubt whether it actually was Helen, just because her eyebrows look thicker. I’m unsure how much their pattern can change with a molt, but as I get clearer photos I’ll be able to say definitely. She came right out onto the branches in front of the nest, which I don’t usually see Helen do, and then, after sitting there for a little bit, she flew into the ravine and waited. She called once and Bob came and caught them on camera so I redeemed myself for last year’s video (which, as it happens, was almost exactly a year ago!) and then Bob went into the nest. Helen/Maybe Helen stayed for a bit and then presumably went off hunting.

I had the opportunity to see both owls today, but nothing happened.

Bob was calling at first, and Helen (and to my relief, I got a clear look and can confirm that this is still Helen and Bob didn’t find a new mate)on Bob’s third attempt she came out. Bob flew right into the open to one of his preferred branches, he just sat there. Bob often sits on this branch during these early stages of their breeding cycle, usually watching Helen. Helen doesn’t always return the looks. I guess when you find a branch that suits you, you call permanent dibs on it and return to it year after year.

Helen just sat on her porch and then Bob flew off. I thought maybe I would follow Bob, but by the time I got over there, he was gone. It’s possible I just couldn’t see him, or he flew further than I thought. I circled back to see Helen and she was not on the porch either so I don’t know if she flew off or if she just went back in for the night.

No signs of Bob today, but Helen did make an appearance. She flew out from her nest and landed in an area of forest directly across maybe 100 feet from where I normally watch the nest. She called a few times for him before returning to the nest. It’s similar to the behaviour that Bob displayed when I thought maybe something had happened to Helen but instead of sitting on the porch with her head sticking out, Helen seems to have gone straight in or maybe straight past the nest. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get decent photos tonight.

I saw Bob tonight at one of his usual branches. He called several times and I could hear something very faint — definitely Helen. It’s a bit too early for babies right now, obviously unless some real funky climate change stuff happened. He didn’t stay for very long before he took off, and I was able to find him hunting on the other side of the nest. I kind of like to imagine he stopped by just what Helen wanted for dinner. Unfortunately, he was facing away from the camera for his hunt, but it is what it is. He took off and I let him be for the evening.

One again, I wasn’t able to get decent photos.

At first, there was no activity, and then around 8:26 (about 20 minutes after sunset, which seems to be their favourite time to come out this time of year) I think Helen came out, but unfortunately, I was unable to grab a picture. She flew straight out of the nest and I thought I could meet her in the same spot that she seems to have flown to a couple of times now, but today she switched it up and I lost her. By the time I heard her calling it was just too dark to locate her. This is a very different behaviour than I’ve seen in previous years.

I realized that it’s “hatch week” when the owls could be hatching out at any day! Last year they hatched on (based on my best guess) April 19. I stopped by the nest, and unfortunately, no one was home, so I continued on my walk since I had left a little earlier in the day than normal. It turned out to be lucky that I did, since I ran into Sunny and Cher, the other pair I like to watch. At first, Sunny wasn’t very visible but eventually, he moved to a slightly better branch. Then Cher came barreling in, basically crashing into Sunny and forcing them both to go to different spots. They were hanging out very close to one location that I suspected to be their nest, so I went around to the other side where I could see them and snapped a few shots. It was then that I realized that if Cher was calling from one area, its possible that the nest was out that way, so I decided to check it out and I found a couple of possible spots. I’ll have to keep an eye and see if I can confirm.

I arrived in the woods just in time to see Bob fly out to a big main trail. There were a few other photographers today, so we went out together to follow the owls. We found the two of them together but barely got a moment with them before they took off again, and unfortunately, we never saw them again. Although I saw Bob in a decent enough spot, I didn’t get shots I was happy with.

Today was my lucky day when it came to hanging out with Bob. I set out to the nest, and when no one was home decided to continue on to see if Sunny and Cher were around. After getting down the hill and around the bend, I happened to see a light-coloured, owl-shaped flash from the bottom of the ravine where Bob and Helen hang out, and I knew it had to be one of them. There is a very steep trail up the side of the ravine that is mostly used for bikes, but I decided to brave it since I had my boots on, and I didn’t want to risk missing Bob by going back around the hill. When I got up and around to the nest again, there was Bob, waiting on a short stump right on the ground between some ferns. From there, we spent about 2 hours together while I watched him hunting along the trail.

Seeing him hunt so actively and earlier in the day than I’ve been seeing them is a good sign that there may be babies hatched out. The timing lines up with last year as well.

Today both Bob and Helen were out of the nest — something I would normally be excited about, but another photographer already there informed me that a Cooper’s Hawk had just tried to attack the nest.

Bob was sitting at one of his favourite mossy perches, while Helen had tucked into a fir tree a little higher. He was watching her and the nest, while she preened. Eventually, Bob moved on, and Helen came closer to the nest, before finally flying back in.

Today may have been the fastest I have ever found an owl eight minutes and forty seconds from leaving my house. Not bad.

The robins and dark-eyed juncos alerted me to Bob’s presence — he was on the hunt, a good sign for there being babies. I managed to snap one photo of him before I lost him, and continued on to the nest.

Helen was out, and at first I was excited, because if she was out and about it confirms that the eggs must have hatched, but something was very wrong. Helen was soaking wet, which wasn’t unusual given the heavy rain of the past day or two. And she was repeatedly calling to Bob, with no answer from him. She would call several times before moving to a different spot, and repeat the process. If I hadn’t seen Bob myself, I would be even more concerned. I think he was just too far away to hear her calls, but it was very upsetting to see her so distressed.

I hope that this isn’t a sign that something happened to the babies. I worry that her distress is a sign that the Cooper’s Hawk came back and was successful.

I spent a good long while with Helen today. She was quite high up, but I was able to find her because she was calling for Bob. Based on how long she was out of the nest, I think it’s confirmed the eggs have hatched

I stayed with Helen for quite a while before she finally took off for a new spot. I got a couple of shots, and but when I went to try a new angle, I lost her. I had only turned around for a second, but that was all it took for her to be gone. Luckily, I did a little lap and I found her. I’m so glad that I did because then Bob came. I had heard Bob already calling her from the distance so I knew he was around, but eventually, he did come up. He went to a branch near her, and she followed, and they embraced. Then he went to the spot that she been in before before moving along onto his hunt. Helen stayed behind, and I followed Bob. He stayed in one spot for quite a while, but since it was getting cold, I decided it was time to move on.

I had a fantastic night with Helen, which is a little unusual, and I did not see Bob at all, which is also a little unusual. Helen was hunting very close to the nest and she was diving for prey quite frequently. She was mostly unsuccessful, although at one point she did bring back something to the nest and although I don’t like doing this, I did get close to the nest in time to see her leave. She dropped it off and unfortunately, I did not see what she caught, but I suspect it was some kind of worm because it was very small.

I heard the babies so that confirmed my suspicions that they have hatched, so it won’t be long before I start seeing them. I was going to leave it at that, but as I was on my way out, I ran into Helen again. I watched her on another hunting attempt She actually landed right in front of me to catch and eat a worm — not very nutritious for a mother, but anything is better than nothing!

After that, she returned to a perch and once again was diving quite frequently to get food. I hope everything‘s OK — normally she doesn’t dive quite as frequently when I’ve seen her hunting. She is normally more careful and I’m hoping that something didn’t happen to Bob and this is a sort of desperation due to lots of mouths to feed. Eventually, she was successful and she did stop by the nest again, but unfortunately, I only saw her leave. I didn’t get to see what she caught.

I found Bob along the main trail very relaxed. It was nice to see him, but it was a big contrast to Helen the previous day. Two robins were alerting the neighbourhood the entire time, but there was very little bombing. Bob was completely unbothered. He was not hunting or anything.

Helen was resting near the nest. A hummingbird was not very happy with her presence, but she was completely unbothered I didn’t stick around for too long because it was in the middle of the day and it was kind of hot. 

I’m not normally an early bird, but I came to the woods around 7 AM and found Helen right at the nest. She was on the hunt, and a lot more active than she was the day before. It was nice to see. She was on the move and eventually I lost side of her, so I also moved on and eventually came across Sonny & Cher, which turned out to be the real show. I saw Sunny fly over the creek and had to go all the way to her I had to go back because she didn’t stay long before returning to where she had flown from. She hung around there for a little while the robins freaked out. She seemed to be hunting and then suddenly she dived into the creek so I assumed she found something in there but then she started taking a bath. She was very exciting to see and then she came by Also very exciting. They sat together for a little bit sun dried off, and then eventually tried to take a bath as well a few seconds before came in, basically kicking her out and then she took a second bath after working so hard to dry off then return to a perch together and very cute and Kissy before sunny left and she stayed behind and then finally took her bath as well eventually moved on and lost side of her and she moved to a big branch begin printing as well. I stayed for a while and then decided it was time to move on.

We’re getting pretty close to when the baby should come out of the nest. Unfortunately, when I got to the nest, nobody was out and Helen and Bob weren’t nearby. Fortunately, they were close together. On a main trail, I was able to get shots of both of them. I decided to stay with Helen and she continued to hunt closer to the nest. She did take a dive at something, but I could see what it was so she may have eaten it on the ground. I decided to try my luck back at the nest — I figured the chances of getting anything were better there since the babies could be around, and either parent might return at any time. I did hear the babies, but as far as I can tell they’re still in the nest. At one point it sounded like two distinct owlets.

One parent stopped by to watch the nest. It looked to be Bob, but the owl never turned its head around for a confirmed ID. Whoever it was didn’t stay long before leaving. I decided to move on, and ran into Helen on the main trail, and got to watch her catch a vole. By the time I got around to the nest, she was already in the nest and leaving, and met with Bob on their usual branch. I suspect she got a smaller mole, and then met Bob who had a larger one for her. They sat on the branch calling for a bit before Bob took off and Helen moved to a higher branch (probably to eat in peace!). I decided after that to camp under the nest, and I’m so glad I did because then Helen emerged — she must have gotten into the nest while I was making my way around to get to it, and may have fed her babies the mole.

I found Bob in the meadow early in the morning. He was a little too easy to find. I do like a bit of a challenge sometimes but it was a clear shot so I’m grateful for that. He eventually moved from his open branch to a low stone wall to hunt. Unfortunately, two dogs scared him away. Normally Bob doesn’t scare away easily, but because he was so low these dogs were a bit more threatening than normal. I was able to sort of see where he flew off to, so I decided to take a chance and follow him. He wasn’t easy to find, but he went much further than I thought was in their normal territory so I’m not sure if he is trespassing or if this is part of their normal hunting grounds. He attempted to hunt, but he failed twice and then he decided to cling to a tree for a while, so I made the decision to leave and go seek out and see if the babies were out (spoiler they weren’t).

I ended up catching up with Helen, who found a mouse to eat and took a few more unsuccessful dives at unknown prey. I looked out and saw Bob carrying a mole, and I managed to meet them back in the nest just in time to see Helen go inside to bring the babies a meal. After, she went to Bob’s branch and she just hung out doing that really low-volume/high-pitch call that she does. The hummingbirds were not impressed with her presence. After watching her for 20-30 minutes, I decided it was time to pack up and let her rest without me watching 

Helen was right on the trail, but high up today. She was in the hunt. She had a few unsuccessful attempts but eventually was able to catch a worm — a prey item I’ve seen her take back to the nest every year, rather than eat it herself. I set up by the nest to get a photo, but she never came by, and I went to take a peak and it didn’t look like she was holding anything anymore. I guess this was the year she finally decided to have some bug spaghetti. The hummingbird that was alerting everyone to her presence eventually stopped, so I decided to abandon my spot to try and seek her now (now in silence). I instantly regretted this because once I got out of position from the nest, I saw her and Bob and unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the camera back down in time. She had the worm and she delivered it to the nest, and thankfully I could hear her owlets calling to her.

The owls seem to be having more trouble hunting this year than in other years, meaning both of us are out later — them hunting, and me photographing.

I ran into Bob almost immediately on the trail. He dived at something but was not successful. Then he went to hang out in a nearby tree. I took a quick peek by the nest and there was no activity so I moved on and I found Helen. Once again, Helen was hunting like crazy but had very little success. She seemed to have caught an earthworm, but she ate it herself. She never made any deliveries to the nest, and I can only hear very faint cries from the babies. At this point, I’m getting a little bit worried because it doesn’t seem that they’re having a very successful hunting season this year. Obviously, I can’t be there 24 hours to follow them around and see what they catch, but based on my experience and previous years things haven’t been going as well as they have in the past. I’m also worried the babies haven’t emerged yet. I feel like it should’ve happened by now and that haven’t seen anything cries seem to be faint, but at least they’re there.

The forest was quite busy today, but luckily I was able to find Bob very quickly. He wasn’t in a great spot, but I did get a video of him coughing up a pellet, which was pretty nice. I did hear the babies cry out, and it sounded a little louder than normal so once the area near the nest died down a little bit I went over. To my delight, there was an owlet sitting right in the nest. This nest is quite deep, so there’s no way to see them until they’re ready to come out — they’re either in the nest or they’re sitting on the “porch” waiting to leave.

As I was filming, the baby a second baby emerged and both of them were sitting side-by-side in the nest hole. I stayed with the baby for 2 1/2 hours taking various pictures and videos and waiting for one of the parents to come back with food, but nobody did. Eventually, due to a low camera battery, I had to call it quits for the night.

There was quite a bit of rain and wind yesterday so I was unable to visit the nest. But today, it’s perfectly sunny. You’d have a little idea of the weather that happened. At the nest, no one was home, including the owlets.

I set out to see if I could find the parents from my other pair instead. The nice thing about good weather after a storm is that you’re guaranteed to get some other good birds happy to enjoy some time in the sun. That turned out to be the right decision as I found three frogs, two chickadees, and two sets of baby Pacific Wrens.

I didn’t see the other owl pair, but when I came back up I did run into Helen, who brought a big mole back to the nest. Weirdly she left the nest with the moles as well as if the babies didn’t want to eat it. They were still not out at that point either. I like to muse that the bad weather of the previous day scared them into staying inside the nest.

I got up early to go see the owlets, but when I stopped by the nest no one was home, so I just had to continue on and hope to run along the other critters on the way. The walk did not disappoint as I returned to one of the chickadees that I found yesterday and got a video of them coming in and out inside. Turns out they were chestnut-backed chickadees. Then found a nest and got to see some cedar wax wings.

On my way back up, I ran into Sunny and Cher. A photographer friend of mine had told me there was a nest in the area, but I did not realize it was them. Interesting and sad update. I think Sunny might be dead, and the owl I’m seeing is a different owl. I’ve seen this owl close to where the nest area is there so it might make sense that they found a new nest in between their normal territories. I’m going to need further pictures to confirm, but so far it appears that way.

Update: having taken a few more photos of this pair, I can confirm that Cher has shacked up with a new owl.

The weather has been pretty bad today, but I decided to just do one quick check-in at the nest. The babies were not out and I didn’t hear them, so it is hard to say whether they have left or were just quiet. I went down the hill following the noise of robins and found Bob, who I hung out with for a bit. He returned to the nest and got attacked by a crow, which was a new sight for me. Unfortunately, it all happened so fast, and with the crow being a bigger threat than a hummingbird or robin, Bob was not interested in hanging around. I quickly lost him and called him the night.

I found an owl pellet full of plastic very quickly into my owl search today, which was very upsetting. At the nest, I found Helen and Bob both out and about and quite close to each other, and I heard an owlet. They are definitely out of the nest, so I began to try and locate them. I instead found Helen on the hunt for something, and I got to see her behaviour of trying to see something up. Owls don’t have good close-up vision, and she was moving her head back and forth to try and get a better look. Owlets display a similar behaviour — when trying to get a better look at you, they do their famous “dance” in the trees, where their whole body moves around.

While looking for the owlets, I got to witness a beautiful moment between Bob and Helen, who were gazing up at each other on a branch in a very “romantic movie” kind of way. The image isn’t everything I would hope and dream for in a photo, but it was still too cool not to shoot and edit.

I eventually located one of the owlets, but they were far too high up to get a decent shot. No sign of a second owlet, but it isn’t totally unusual for them to have some distance when the first emerge.

There wasn’t much to tell today, but Bob did pose quite nicely on a branch with the perfect mossy trunk in behind. My only beef with him is that I wish the branch was a little lower so I could get a more direct angle.

Despite constant bombardment from robins and even a varied thrush, Bob stayed on this spot for a long time, only leaving once he spotted his mate Helen.

Having been away for a few days, it felt like I was going in blind to find the owls. The babies could’ve gone anywhere. After an initial sweep of some of the usual areas I was unsuccessful so I expanded the search throughout the territory. And doing so I heard one of the babies I was able to pinpoint exactly where it was. Not far off was Helen sitting in a tree, most likely having just brought some food to her baby. The whereabouts of the other baby are still unknown at this point or if there is a third baby just like last year. Helen took off at some point while I was watching her owlet. With the location of one owlet secured, I decided to go off and search for her by heading towards the sound of robins in distress. When I got there, she was not in a position where I could get a clear shot so I returned to the baby just in time to see Bob flying by straight to Helen. It didn’t look like he had brought food, but who knows?

After being out for a few days sick finally got up the energy to go look for the owls. Initially, I was going to head straight for the babies, but the call of the robins was too tempting and I followed it right to Bob hunting in a tree. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in a good spot to get a photo. Patience paid off as he moved to a different spot right on the trail. Satisfied with the images, I got, I decided to move along and search for the babies. I returned to the spot where I last saw a baby and although I could hear one, I could not pinpoint where it was. Bob soon showed up, but he was not much help. And then the owlet really began to call, and I was able to pinpoint the location. Although I know there are two, I still have only seen one at a time, which is troubling.  Helen flew in and got in a pretty good snuggle session with the baby and then to my surprise, the baby took flight. At first, I couldn’t believe it and I actually thought it was Helen but then the baby did it again right in front of me. Being back in school I get a lot less time with the owlets than I did last year, so to me it still feels like they are just fresh from the nest. But owl life movies fast, and owlets have got to fly. After that, the baby flew back over the ravine. On my way over, I ran into Bob again, back on the hunt on the other side of the ravine. I found Helen in a tree close to her baby and the baby cozy in the tree. Still no sign of a second baby at this point. Helen rarely left this owlet’s side so I worry that maybe something happened to the second owlet that I saw at the nest.

Having been sick I wasn’t able to get in the woods so I’ve kind of lost my bearing right now where the babies might be. I followed the sound of robins and was able to find Bob with ease. He was alerting the entire forest of his presence with at least four different species of birds, angry at him , I stayed with him for a while before to circle back and trying to find the babies. ATA first I had no luck, but then I heard one baby and managed to pinpoint its location. t this point it was still just the one baby, and it was still hanging out quite high. I spent the rest of the evening with this baby, who was quite relaxed and spent most of the time resting. I looked around the area and found loads of small pellets and my first baby feather of the season, so chances are good that this bowler has been hanging around

I came to the last spot I sighted the owlet and although I could hear it, I could not see it, so I went to the other side of the ravine just in time to see Helen make a special delivery. I was a little underprepared so I wasn’t able to get too many shots, and the baby ended up flying off, but then Helen flew down right in front of me on a log. She was looking for something on the ground, but ultimately did not find whatever it was and flew off towards one of the main trails.

I decided to circle back to the other side to see if the baby decided to land somewhere visible. I got lucky on the other side and found the owlet still eating the mole Helen had dropped off. The owlet, who I’ve now named Luna, was not cooperative with the camera, so although I could get some shots of her ripping the mole to bite-sized pieces, there was a small branch blocking the full view in almost every shot.

I started today at the last spot I sighted Luna, but I could hear her on the other side of the ravine. I thought I saw one of the parents fly over so I quickly made my way over. Luna was sitting on a nice open branch, calling to her mother. She is now in what I think of as the owlet “toddler” stage, but still no sign of another owlet, so at this point I think I can confirm that something must have happened shortly after the owlets left the nest. Helen joined her lone owlet, and the two of them looked up at an airplane, looked out in the distance together, and finally Hele gave Luna some grooming before she moved to a new spot. I rushed back to the other side of the ravine, and on the way ran into Bob. Once I caught up with Luna, I was able to get a few shots of her in the ravine before she returned back to the other side. She was really making sure I got my steps today. Once I caught up with her again she stayed mostly in one spot, but unfortunately, it was getting too dark in the ravine for anything decent.

When I first arrived to see Luna, she was too high up to be photographed properly. Instead, I decided to move along and do a full walk of the woods. Along the way, I did run into Bob on the hunt, but after a few shots, I decided to let him be. Eventually, I did circle back to the nest area, and Luna had come down from her very high perch, although the lighting was not on my side anymore. Neither one of her parents came to visit, but I did hear them duet close by. Luna eventually moved to a more open spot, and I was able to get a single shot of her.

Bob was easy enough to find within the first 10 minutes of being in the woods thanks to the help of robins and other thrushes. He wasn’t in the best of spots, but with no other leads, I decided to get set up with him and hope that he would move. Impatience paid off in this case, as I found another angle of him around the bend and watched as he caught a mouse. I tried to follow him when he took off with it, but unfortunately, I lost him. Luckily I heard Luna, so I met up with her, hoping to see one of her parents dropping off a meal to her. Luna is a bit more shy than last year’s owlets, and I attribute part of that to the fact that she isn’t as habituated to me.

Helen was hanging out around the bend from where Luna was. She appeared to be on the hunt but didn’t make any dives while I was watching.

I thought my night was over, but on my way out I once again and unfortunately the encounter was too quick to be able to set up the camera again, but it was nice to see him right before I left.