Documenting an owlet’s dramatic life or death predicament

Well, we are back in the north country and we didn’t get washed away like some folks did. The water levels are at record levels everywhere.

Lake Champlain is over 103 feet which is affecting the ferries, many docks and front lawns of many homes.

We may need a canoe to check nets at the Crown Point Banding Station for the next couple of weeks.

A canoe might also be needed to get to the banding station as it’s too high above the water level of the lake.

Maybe we will do some banding on the high ground this year rather then down in the Hawthorn thickets.

On our drive back north we went through some areas that were hit by tornadoes.

Trees were ripped out by their roots and houses leveled on both sides of the road with parts and pieces laying all over the place.

I heard there were a couple of tornadoes locally in the Rome and Frankfort areas and several strong thunderstorms that dumped over four inches of rain.

That along with the snow melt could have done nothing but run off and over some of the folks downstream.

Last year when we came back the leaves were all out and spring had sprung. All I can say this year is that the snow is gone.

Who knows, with all this crazy weather it could make another appearance in the next couple weeks.

There are plenty of birds at my feeder. Already this morning (5/3) I’ve put bands on over 20 Blue Jays, Juncos, Chipping Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Purple Finch and Red-winged Blackbirds.

We had great weather in Florida with only two little sprinkles in three weeks.

I have to say that it’s dry there and there were some brush fires burning in the area.

The Gulf water temperature was at 83 degrees which was the warmest we had ever experienced.

We could walk right in from our beach chairs and it felt like we were wading in a heated pool.

Locals said that was not good as the warmer water in the Gulf causes more Hurricanes.

If this is the case there sure will be some activity down that way this year.

The trolley driver on our tour of Key West said he would never leave again as that area hadn’t been hit with a hurricane for a long time.

He said he had evacuated following several other warnings but the Hurricanes passed by without a direct hit.

I sure wouldn’t want to be there if a hurricane ever hit, but that would be his choice.

I talked to a fella that rode out Hurricane Charlie on Sanibel Island and he said he would never do that again.

With winds over 150 mph and unbelievable rains—he thought he was going to die.

I told you last week about the Screech Owl nest I discovered while birding by the Lighthouse on Sanibel Island.

One morning while looking at the nest I saw five-foot long Corn Snake go quickly into the nest hole.

About five minutes later it came out with the owlet in its mouth. I took pictures of It as it started down the tree.

The snake fell the last three feet but kept the owlet. For some reason the snake got spooked and left the motionless owlet behind.

I thought it was dead for sure and showed it to another birder.

I went to tell Karen the story and when I came back ten minutes later the Owlet was standing.

It was a little wobbly on its feet and had some damage to its right eye.

I picked it up and was attacked by its brown phase mom. She hit me a few times as I put the owlet up in a bush near the nest tree.

I called CROW, the Island’s rehabilitation organization for injured birds and animals, and they asked if I could bring it to them so they could take care of it.

I went back with a paper bag and found that the Owlet had climbed up higher in the bush, but I was able to reach it.

The mom wasn’t around and I was able to take the bird and bring it over to CROW for rehab.

I called the next day and they said the little bird was doing fine.

I was in the right place at the right time to get this all on film.

This is what goes on in the wild everyday—a life and death struggle.

The Roseate Spoonbills are a beautiful big pink bird, but that’s another story. See ya.