Owl babies...

We really enjoyed ourselves at Clifty Falls and Muscatatuck, and I have tons of photos, but before we get to that, I have to talk about owls! We pulled into the driveway around 7:10 p.m. this evening. After unloading our stuff, I checked my email and found a message that they were going to band baby owls at Lake Isabella at 7:00 p.m., so I put my camera and binocs back in the car and hurried on over. I got there just as they were finishing, but that's okay because I got to meet a lot of Cincinnati birders, including fellow blogger Susan, from Susan Gets Native (check out her site for more photos of the baby). Susan was really nice (and funny too) and told me they had added an abandoned baby owl to the nest! So mama owl now has two mouths to feed! They have done this in the past, and it works. The mama usually doesn't question the addition. She sees two open mouths and puts food into them. We hung around until dark to watch the mama return, hoping she'd bring something yummy for the babies to eat, but she was sitting off in the distance and didn't venture back. The babies were doing great and were showing no signs of stress. No doubt as soon as darkness fell she swooped in with a snack.

The new baby owl is on the left. What a cute face!! 

Talk about wide-eyed!

When I first got there only the original baby was peeping 

out of the nest. You can see how different his face is...smaller 

and darker. He's so cute and just a little bit younger.

Tomorrow I'll start posting the Clifty Falls photos...think Turkey Vultures!

(Thanks, again, Bill for covering for me!)