Return of the raptor?

A barred owl (the barred owl?) is on the same branch occupied several days ago by either the same bird or a different one that looks very much  the same. Since, as far as I know, it’s not possible to put ear tags on barred owls, I have real difficulties telling one from another. The one on the perch today doesn’t look quite like the one previously seen, but that could as well be my  eyes or memory. In any  event, we’re more than pleased that the perch is again occupied by a barred owl, right out where we can watch from our easy chair.

today’s barred owl

Photo by J. Harrington

If it’s not the same owl, what are the odds that the one branch on an oak tree is so ideal that two separate owls would choose it? If it is the same owl, where was it yesterday and the day before? Maybe owls are also guided by conditions like “When the moon is in the Seventh House // And Jupiter aligns with Mars” that help them determine where to perch.

I have two books about owls, Intriguing Owls and Twelve Owls. It’s been awhile since I’ve read either. Time to pull them off the shelf and see what they say about barred owls. Seems the least I can do to get to know more about a new neighbor.

The Owl

Edward Thomas - 1878-1917

Downhill I came, hungry, and yet not starved;
       Cold, yet had heat within me that was proof
       Against the North wind; tired, yet so that rest
       Had seemed the sweetest thing under a roof.

Then at the inn I had food, fire, and rest,
       Knowing how hungry, cold, and tired was I.
       All of the night was quite barred out except
       An owl’s cry, a most melancholy cry

Shaken out long and clear upon the hill,
       No merry note, nor cause of merriment,
       But one telling me plain what I escaped
       And others could not, that night, as in I went.

And salted was my food, and my repose,
       Salted and sobered, too, by the bird’s voice
       Speaking for all who lay under the stars,
       Soldiers and poor, unable to rejoice.

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