now after 4 nights of barn owl observation, we have another question. we're in watertown (in town-main street) just southeast of lebanon in wilson county and as of tonight we find we have a least 4 very large owls flying around coming from different directions going in and out of the tree. do you think these are the young being taught to hunt? are these birds not territorial and it might be 2 pairs with nests in the same tree? they all seem to be about the same size but we find newly deposited fuzzy pure white baby feathers under the tree which would seem to indicate that the owlets are still quite young and have yet to emerge. any ideas? enclosed find a picture of a male and also another photo of both a male and female in the same darker photo (it's pretty hard to take pictures at night). two days now we've seen the birds perching in this huge silver maple (once in our tulip poplar) during daylight hours where they remain completely motionless except to watch us when we're around. they seem to be most active about 10 pm and then quiet down again. certainly are interesting creatures. anyone interested is welcome of course to come visit them with us. btw, our elderly neighbor lady on a morning in 1994 noticed leaves moving outside her kitchen window and went out to find a male barn owl sitting looking at her at eye level in a shrub right under this tree that now seems to be home to several birds. is it likely to have been a relative? i read that they often stay year round and kind of looks like they might have found this huge tree with lots of large cavities a great habitat for some time. she has a yellowed photo to prove she wasn't seeing things. jan donaldson watertown, TN southeast wilson county
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