Mrs. Barred Owl Goes Into Concealment Mode

[Alfred Maley]

This morning about 9 AM Mrs. Barred Owl arrived in the Sargent Crab by the deck. Both male and female like the trees, which leaf out early and whose branches intermingle to form a “roof” that mostly conceals the owls on the larger branches below.

But something occurred that I had never seen before - the owl went into concealment mode. She squatted down firmly on the branch (as if in sleep mode the talons lock tight on the branch) and she fluffed her feather and closed her eyes to slits, while still facing up at the sky, In essence she became just another branch on the tree, albeit a somewhat fat one.

This lasted only five minutes or so and then she turned to her normal activity - eating.

Al Maley
Hampstead, NH