“Owl season” begins – November, 2023
Today was (for me) the first day of “Owl season” 2023. I sighted this Barred Owl (Strix varia) at Pony Pasture in Richmond, VA (on the falls of the James River) at 11:00 this morning. Drizzly and 40ºF, not a pleasant morning, not lovely for photography, but there is never a bad time to see an owl. More and better pictures soon. This is my fifth consecutive autumn sighting a Barred Owl on this branch:
Barred owl, same branch, fifth consecutive autumn!
So today is November 26, 2023, and a Barred owl showed up on that branch “right on time” in a manner of speaking. The first one I ever saw there was on Black Friday, 2019. And one has shown up there – and I’ve photographed it on that precise branch – during the last week in November every year now. Today marks five consecutive years. To merely say I am “amazed” is a huge understatement. I had no idea anything in nature (except for the river) was so predictable. Have a great day!
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I’m adding this text January 15, 2023. I added a Barred Owl photograph (bottom of page) today. My first Barred Owl photograph in this series is immediately below – top left. Taken Thanksgiving week, 2019. I have continued (during “owl season”) to photograph them on the same branch for five calendar years. That’s four breeding years. I suspect from watching this is the male (when there’s a solo owl). I think the female is in the woods somewhere on a nest. “Owl season” begins roughly at the first frost, e.g. late November in Richmond. It ends approximately at the last frost, early April.
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- Pony Pasture Barred Owl yesterday. Thank you for the tip Fred and Gale and Bo!
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- Not everything makes my heart beat faster when I photograph it. But owls always do.
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- If you’re more alert than I was, perhaps you already noticed something else
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- See them both? Now look back at the 1st picture – you can see the tail of the 2nd owl. Wild.
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- Barred Owl while Evelyn and the dogs and I hiked on Christmas morning
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- I’m transfixed, every time I see this. I lose awareness of everything else:
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- Amazing that a pair of owls can be this predictable. Amazing and gratifying.
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- Same owls (presumably) on the same branch (that is a fact)
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- Barred owls! Eleventh consecutive week!
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- The 1,001st time I see them, I’ll be as gleeful as the 1st time
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- Barred Owls – thirteen weeks on the same branch!
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- Week 14 Barred Owl
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- My 1st Barred Owl of 2021 at Pony Pasture – January 2
Barred owl January 15, 2023 – fifth calendar year!
First time I saw a pair of Barred Owls together at Pony Pasture in 2023 – Saturday, February 11
I saw this young Barred owl on a branch over the creek at Pony Pasture on Sunday, June 25, 2023 at 9:00 AM.
It’s December 15, 2024 – and this morning a Barred Owl showed up on the same branch for the sixth consecutive year!:
NEWFAZE 