How Baby Owls Nap Without Falling From Their Trees
Barred Owl fledgling. Photo: Gerrit Vyn/Minden Pictures
Sometimes birds fall directly into our lives. BirdNote listener
Joseph Clark tells of discovering two Barred Owlets on the ground near
his home in East Haddam, Connecticut.
The young birds had fallen out of
an ancient sugar maple and were being harassed by ravens.
Clark scared off the ravens, and with the guidance of Kasha Breau
of the Connecticut Audubon Center, got the young owls back up into the
tree. The mother owl stayed nearby, keeping a close eye on the rescue.
Once the birds were safe, Breau advised Clark to observe the owlets
napping, which they do during the day. What he saw delighted him.
Keeping their talons tightly gripped on a branch, the owlets lie down on
their stomachs, turned their heads to the side, and fall asleep. Their
naps are short, and when they are asleep, they do not like to be
awakened, even to be fed.
A young owl doesn’t fall out of the tree while it snoozes, because
its back toe, the hallux, holds onto the branch. The hallux will not
open or let go until the bird bends its leg. Still, before they can fly,
most owlets explore and often end up on the ground, sometimes dropping
right into the middle of our lives.
Mary McCann for Bird Note.
