Cradled

This helpless little thing is a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owlet, around one week old, being held very gently by the five-year-old daughter of Richard Chamberland, licensed Raptor Bander. I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) up near Edmonton. Both families of owls had nested in wooden nest boxes. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes, that were on private property). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and I up there - I appreciate it SO much! Good to have the company of you guys - made the journey seem shorter : )

The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! Richard's paid work (his endless work with owls and other raptors is all voluntary) gets busier from now on, plus his summer weekends will be spent with his family (good for him!), so we were lucky to get this chance. Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded the older one of these that he hadn't banded with the others the other day, but that was now old enough to be banded), and both the Barred Owlets. One of the Saw-whets, seen in the image above) was only about a week old and the other was three weeks old. I think the Barred Owlets were about three weeks old. The female adults of both families were high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on, so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ))))))) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Lovely to meet you, Don, and the rest of you! Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. Your young daughter (5 years old) is so lucky to be brought up with so many incredible opportunities and such a love of nature. What a keen eye she has, finding all sorts of interesting things for us to see, including a little Wood Frog. Wonderful to see such caring, gentleness and joy for all flora and fauna from such a young child, not to mention her knowledge about all these things! I was so impressed : )

Previously posted photo of an adult Northern Saw-whet Owl is in a comment box below.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl/id


NO WILD BIRD OR ANIMAL SHOULD EVER BE TAKEN HOME AS A PET!!!