Bert & Ernie, Caitlin & Emily

(This post was written on April 26)  It was confirmed Friday that the Great-horned owl nest has two babies. Up till now we had only seen one at a time. Caitlin and Emily, two 8th grade students Prairie Crossing Charter School, are monitoring the nest every Friday. They were the first to see the second baby. Caitlin and Emily have learned a lot through their weekly observations and were very excited to see baby number two.

I’ve named the owlets Bert and Ernie because their awkward movements and fuzziness reminds me of the infamous Muppet duo. No sign of the parents today, but I sensed that they were nearby. The trees are leafing out so it is getting harder by the day to see through the woods to the nest. The owls have occupied the Red-tailed hawk nest that produced two Red-tailed hawk offspring last spring/summer. Great Horned owls do not build their own nests - they typically use hawk or crow nests.

Six Turkey Vultures circled very low for several minutes before landing on the peak of the barn roof. They seemed interested in the silo and hopped back and forth from the edge of the silo to the roof. Could the silo be a potential nest site? Turkey Vultures were a rare sighting 20 years ago. They have steadily expanded their zone northward and are now common spring through fall.

Still haven’t seen any snakes. Old farms are typically good snake habitat. I’m hoping to find a fox snake or a milk snake soon. Maybe we should have Rob Carmichael out to help us do a reptile inventory.

My walk through the woods today raised my concern over the garlic mustard. I’m worried about the rampant spread of this invasive plant – it has several strongholds. I pulled several hundred plants from the areas where it is just starting to establish itself. We need to get a crew out there in the next few weeks to eradicate it from the sensitive areas around the house and oak tree.

Mike and Patrick cleaned and swept the barn this morning. It’s looking the best I’ve seen it yet. There is hope for reviving this old barn!