Barred Owl released into Carkeek Park

This male Barred Owl was found injured by the side of the road in Seattle's Carkeek Park.

Luckily, PAWS' nationally renowned Wildlife Center is nearby and he was taken there for several weeks of rehabilitation.

My neighbor works at the Center, and was kind enough to let me know that the rehabilitated owl was going to be released back into Carkeek Park from their backyard, which borders the park.

In this video, you'll see the owl released from his travel crate, whereupon he flies to a nearby shed to get his bearings. He barely has a few moments to look around before a crow first screams a challenge at him, and then attacks him from behind.

The owl escapes to a nearby tree where the crow can't get at him. I stopped filming at this point, but later, when things had calmed down a bit, the owl began hooting. He was soon answered by another nearby owl, perhaps his mate. Sounds like a happy ending to me!

Hairy Woodpecker vs Downy Woodpecker

This hungry Downy Woodpecker is getting annoyed, waiting for the much larger Hairy Woodpecker to quit hogging the suet.

Flexi-Perch in action!

Tim of Colorado has a squirrel problem so bad that he almost gave up feeding the birds. But he built himself one of my Flexi-Perch birdfeeders (using these
instructions) and got this video of a squirrel trying to get at the seeds and finally falling off the feeder. The squirrel falls quickly, so that part is re-played in slow motion.

Chickadee nest and eggs

I took down our birdhouses for cleaning earlier this month, and found that a Black-Capped Chickadee family had made good use of this one, building a 3 inch high nest out of moss and dog hair:



At first, I was disconcerted that there were 6 unhatched eggs in the nest, but then I remembered that I had watched the chickadees at this birdhouse successfully fledge their first brood. These eggs are from a second or maybe third brood.



Here's a closeup of one of the eggs:

Live video now available!

I've just updated this site and replaced the updated-every-30-seconds picture with a java applet providing live video from the BirdCam. Please let me know how it's working for you!

If you're curious, you can tell how fast the live video is updating by right-clicking in the live image and selected "Show FPS" from the FPS menu item.

Enjoy!

New Red-Tailed Hawk ringtone

This call will get your attention! Give a listen...

Hairy Woodpecker feasting on suet

This male Hairy Woodpecker is enjoying the suet at the SeattleBirdCam. You get a good look at the red band on the back of his head.