23 February, 2020            Owls travel a quarter of the way around the sun

I’m open to people’s interpretations for why this might have happened. This week I observed a natural phenomenon and I find it nearly inexplicable. I photographed Barred Owls at Pony Pasture this week – for the thirteenth consecutive week! I’ll revisit that topic a  sentence or two further into this blog post. 

But first here’s a male cardinal warming up in the sun this week, puffed up against the cold. I didn’t see a female nearby but she couldn’t have been far away: 

Two out of three primary colors

Here is my “Week Thirteen Owl Picture”:

Barred Owls – thirteen weeks on the same branch!

The reason it’s significant – to me – is because, as I’ve noted incessantly, of the length of time I’ve been seeing these owls. “Thirteen weeks” is not a random number of weeks – it’s a quarter of a year. Earth takes fifty-two weeks to make a complete trip around the sun – one year. Those owls – one or both – have been sitting on the same branch – for a quarter of the year! I just cannot think of any other animal that behaves that way. A quarter of a year on one branch. I cannot figure out how evolution would select for that behavior. So if anyone can suggest why a bird like that might perch on the same branch for a quarter of a year, I’m interested to hear it. 

You can certainly see a robin fifty two weeks a year. But the ratio of robins : Barred owls in central Virginia is probably in the vicinity of 10,000 : 1 or something like that. Here’s one of ten thousand (-ish): 

When I was much younger these were a sign of Spring. Now they’re always around!

I believe robins are the most common bird in North America.

I also got a squirrel at the park one day this week. I don’t love this picture but I don’t have a ton of content this week so oh well. Smile: 

Gray squirrel hits the deck

Here’s some great content – the two best boys in the world, Mackey and Turner this morning at Pony Pasture at 10:43, urging me to stop taking pictures and start hiking: 

Mackey and Turner don’t like to stop. Except sometimes on the river.

Have a great week! Come back next week! 

All best, 

Jay