GMW.com reader and Wilton resident Nancy Gany sent us these amazing photos of a fledgling owl she spotted in her back yard. In her words she describes finding it. All photos courtesy Nancy Gany.
“We live in South Wilton and our property abuts Cherry Lane Park. On Thursday night, April 2, around 6:30 p.m. our dog began barking intently in our back yard. This is very unlike her, so I went to see what she was barking at. Fortunately, she was in her fenced-in area of our yard, since there was an owl sitting in between some logs and large boulders just on the other side of the fence.
The owl seemed immune to the barking, and I wondered if its wing was injured and/or caught on something. My son Jackson, a senior at Wilton High School, was the only other person home at the time and he helped me secure our dog indoors.
The owl moved while we were doing this–when I returned, it was on top of a log. I approached it slowly to see if I could determine if it was injured and it serenely allowed me to take pictures and admire its beauty.
Although it didn’t appear to be injured, I wasn’t sure, so I called two different animal rescue organizations (Wildlife in Crisis in Weston and Wild Wings in Old Greenwich) hoping to get some advice. Unfortunately, no one answered and all I got was a voice mail greeting.
Jackson had a great idea – he suggested we contact one of his former teachers, Jim Hunter, a science teacher at WHS that knows a lot about local wildlife. Jim was great – he informed us that it was most likely a fledgling barred owl given that we have wetlands on our property and lots of woods. He said it’s probably a young owl learning to fly, even though it will look full grown. They learn from the ground up and stumble around for a day or two before discovering their wings. Although the parents were most certainly in the area to protect their baby, humans are too large for them to interfere with.
The next morning, the owl was gone and although I’ve looked, I can’t locate the nest. However, we were treated to a surprise on Easter Sunday evening – at 9:30 p.m. our dog barked again – this time on our front patio. Thankfully, from there she doesn’t have access to our driveway, because that’s where our young owl was again, hopping about on the driveway and attempting to use his wings!
One of the things I love about living near wetlands and woods are the glimpses of nature we are blessed to witness.
What a nice treat! Congrats! Definitely a barred owl. Over the years we’ve had a number of young great horned owls calling from the edges Spectacle Creek Swamp, and we hear the warble of screech owls about every other year. But this past fall was the first time in 20 years I’ve heard or seen a barred owl on our property in North Wilton. We’ve been told that this past year was a bumper year for mice – a huge population explosion. So perhaps we’ll all see more owls as a result.