This past Saturday evening, just after 10pm, I was relaxing at home when a
significantly large spider ran across the floor of my living room. Loving most
wildlife equally (as I'm sure many of us here do), I reached for our plastic
tupperware and a piece of paper, and took the spider outside.
As I went to head back in, I heard a barred owl hooting not too far away in the
park behind our houses (Loftridge Park, Alexandria, VA, 22303) - perhaps my
reward for saving the spider? :) Moments later, a 2nd barred owl called back
and for the next few minutes the hooting and chattering between the owls was
rather significant and constant. One must've been right behind our townhome,
though we never got to see it, and eventually the hoots were further away - it
must've flown.
Sunday at dusk we headed out in the woods to see if we could find either of
them. While we never did see them, we found what we strongly believe to be a
barred owl feather, and also (separately) a raccoon high up in a tree which
retreated to a hole (on the reverse side of the tree)!
This evening, here I sit with the windows open, at the computer finishing up
the things we do before we hit the hay. 12:15am, "Who cooks for you, who cooks
for you alllll..." bellows from the woods once again! This time, we don't hear
the answering of a 2nd owl - just the one - and it lasts less than 5 minutes
and all is silent again.
As a side question to owl-folks out there - would an owl take over an abandoned
raccoon nest as its nesting site (or vice versa)? I'm wondering how likely it
is that our ~50 acre suburban park could host a nesting pair of owls (and/or
that these two owls may be juveniles raised here this year). Feel free to
respond off list.
Happy birding!
-Renee Grebe
Alexandria, VA
