Sometime ago, I went with my family to El Valle de Anton to show them some of the local attractions, including the zoo. Personally, I don't like zoos... but someone told Gloriela that they were exhibiting owls, and both Gloriela and Gabrielle love owls! I have to admit that I enjoyed the visit... until we found the owl... simply a sad sight, locked in a tiny cage, evidently depressed if I can use this term in this case. You can see the poor Striped Owl in the next photo if you enlarge it.
Slightly frustrated, I proposed to myself to show them a wild Striped Owl in all its brilliance, free in the nature. Thanks God, Osvaldo Quintero facilitated my task yesterday when he texted to me that a pair of these beauties was resting on a tree in Parque Omar, right in the middle of the city. I went right away with Gloriela and Gabrielle... but it was already dark when I managed to crossed the city in the peak hours of traffic jam... and the birds were not there. We returned this afternoon... and the birds were there!
They are by the tennis court. You can't enter there, but the owls can be perfectly photographed from the fence, as we did. The place keeper told Osvaldo that the birds appeared more or less ten days ago. My photos has nothing to do with Osvaldo's pieces of art... the birds were in backlit and the day quite cloudy. However I was glad to see my two girls watching an owl as it should be!
I didn't see any cavity in the tree, nor any courtship display or anything alike... probably they were only resting... simple like that!
Thanks Osvaldo for sharing this with us!
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Thanks for your tip, yesterday I saw them and someone made the question if they where nesting but they don't nest in tree cavities, they nest on flat ground: "Nest site. Striped Owls usually nest on the ground, with little or no nest structure (Hartmann 1956, Wetmore 1968, Martínez et al. 1996)" Source: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/lifehistory?p_p_spp=36400
ReplyDeleteThanks Siu, you are completely right.
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