Barn Owls

[John Schijf <redrockbirder at hotmail dot com>]

This last week Mike and I went owling. We spent a good 2-3 hours the first
night driving around the Washington Fields to no avail. However, on our
way back to Bloomington Hills ( it was about 11pm) on 1450 South (the road
that runs along the river from Washington Fields to River Road), we heard
calling form the rock ledges above the road. These are the ledges below
Stone Cliff.  We got out, and were able to find at least 6 Barn Owls on
the high ledges above the road. We suspected that there were a number of
almost fully grown young being fed by the parents. Three or four times
while we were watching an owl would fly out of the dark up to the cliff
and the calling would intensify. The bird would land and would be met by 2
or more owls that were on the ledges. We assumed it was the parents
bringing in food. It was difficult to see exactly what was going on since
we were watching at some distance using artificial light sparingly.

Three nights ago we went out again just before dusk. Just as it was
starting to get dark the calling began and we were again able to see 5-6
Barn Owls on the ledges. It was light enough to get a good look at the
birds. I suspect that there might be more owls than we saw. The calling
seemed to come from a good 200 yard section of the cliff.

The owls are concentrated on the steepest section of the cliff along 1450
South a short distance before you get to the Stone Cliff turn off as you
drive towards the fields.

John and Mike Schijf

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