Barred Owl Fledgling Leaves its Nest

Photo: Barred Owl fledglings, Dorli Bokel

Lisa Mackem

Barred Owlet, Dorli Bokel

Reston resident Dorli Bokel doesn’t consider herself a birder, but she loves the Barred Owls that she often hears nearby – especially the young ones. “I love watching them turn their heads – almost like it’s on a rotation axel. The fuzzy babies are adorable.” Recently, she saw one of the owlets fledge, right on her deck railing. “I just looked outside, and the owlet was just sitting there. It started turning around, trying to get its footing…timidly walked for a bit, turned, and walked more. We were mesmerized.” Dorli estimates that the owlet spent five hours on her deck, then returned two days later. She took this video on the first day and additional pictures on the following days.

Unlike most young birds, Barred Owl chicks fledge before they can fly. They leave their nest when they are 4-8 weeks old but don’t master flight until they are up to 12 weeks old. Dorli doesn’t know how the owlet in her video got to her deck railing, where she says there is nothing to climb on, and the trees surrounding it are very high. However, Barred owlets are known to climb out of their nest using their beaks or talons to sit on branches, and hop to nearby limbs or other surfaces, climbing up to 15 feet.

Dorli noticed early this spring that the owls hooted during the day. Now she only hears them at night. This pattern matches the Barred Owl mating season, with courtship activities beginning in February and breeding between March – August. 

Barred Owls mate for life, and usually have a single clutch of 2-3 white eggs each year. The incubation period lasts 28-33 days. After they hatch, young Barred Owls can stay near the nest for up to 6 months, rarely straying from each other and often sitting side by side. Adults care for their young for up to four months – much longer than many owl species. Most Barred Owls remain close to their birthplace and their nest sites can be maintained for years.

Northern Virginia residents hear Barred Owls often, and sightings are not uncommon. Dorli hopes that someone else will share her unique experience of watching an owlet fledge. 

More than a century ago, Harriet Tubman used her knowledge of the natural world, including the call of the Barred Owl, in her efforts to guide people to freedom. Read the full story from Audubon.

Environmental Development on the Reston National Golf Course

Photo: Eastern Bluebird nestlings, Xiaoyan Yin

Lisa Mackem

The previous Reston National Golf Course (RNGC) owners fought against Reston residents for the right to develop the golf course into a townhome community.  A four-year court battle resulted in a ruling to preserve the golf course as provided in the Reston Comprehensive Plan. In 2019, new owners bought the golf course. They hired KemperSports to manage it and turn it into a must-play course for the region that also promotes native wildlife, trees, plants and pollinators.

Kris Anderson became the RNGC general manager late last year. He enjoys promoting golf in an all-inclusive way, and hopes the golf course’s environmental characteristics will enhance golfers’ experience. He often has tried to bring in red, yellow, and blue colors to golf courses to add visual variety. He notes that RNGC doesn’t have a large deer population, so his plantings don’t get eaten overnight. “Typically, you do see deer on golf courses inside the beltway,” says Kris, theorizing that Reston has other areas where deer feel safer and have more space. Kris is enthusiastic about the multi-year plans to improve RNGC. “We are fortunate to have owners Weller Development and War Horse Cities who have been passionate and aggressive in creating and implementing plans to add natural wildlife” says Kris. “They have provided considerable time, leadership and resources in setting up a 15- box bluebird trail, a riparian buffer around the large pond on hole #7, Carnolian honey bee hives for pollinating and large butterfly gardens. This is not the norm for a golf course owner.”  

RNGC has been an Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary since 2007 (not related to National Audubon Society). It is also one of the busiest golf courses in the mid-Atlantic region. The current owners and managers hoped that Reston residents would embrace a large environmental project that promotes birds, pollinators, bees and meadows, and is continuous with the Reston plan. The challenge, Kris says, is completing the plan soon enough to have an impact in the first year. “We hope much of this work lasts for 30 years, and we want to get it done now!” As Kris hoped, volunteers helped with planting, and qualified experts managed larger projects. 

A key expert partner in the native plant project is Claudia Thompson-Deahl, Reston Association’s Environmental Resource Manager for 38 years, who retired from that position last December. In January, Chuck Veatch, who collaborated with Claudia on producing The Nature of Reston, introduced her to RNGC co-owner Scott Plank. Scott is a first-time golf course owner and not a golfer, but he wanted to show people that there are many ways to manage a golf course. He gave Claudia free reign to improve RNGC’s habitat and ecology. “This is where my heart is,” says Claudia. “It’s more of a passion than anything else.” 

Claudia asked experienced blue bird monitors, Joanne Bauer and Robin Duska, to organize a Virginia Bluebird Society Trail and they trained three teams to check the boxes weekly. She also introduced local beekeeper Zak Johnson and Asclepias Landscape Design owner Karen Prante to Kris. Claudia is dedicated to improving the golf course habitat, possibly including a Chimney Swift tower and interpretive signs. 

Her biggest challenge was learning about the different types of bees native to the area – mining and cellophane. Nick Dorian, who is working on a PhD about unequal cellophane bees, gave a bee tutorial and noted that few areas have these bee types. He recommended delaying a meadow planting that would have destroyed a bee habitat. Other challenges include keeping the plants free from neonicotinoids, which can poison insects, and finding native plants by the planting date to complete a large-scale design. Claudia is grateful for volunteer support, including South Lakes High School students, who were crucial in planting the first meadow.

Owner Scott Plank prioritized listening to and including Reston residents, and is proud that locals were deeply involved in RNGC’s environmental work. He reviewed years of conversation, social media posts and articles about Reston. As a student of city planning architecture, he admired Bob Simon, and wanted to give life to his vision. 

The efforts have already paid off. Golfers see the bluebird houses, where Kris has counted 33 eggs, and Kris hears the golfers talk about other birds building nests. Golfers will see the Monarch butterfly garden and the signs explaining the garden, Monarch migration pattern and why Monarchs are endangered. The course has three beehives, but none of the bees will be near the golfers and the maintenance work will not disturb them. They will all be excellent pollinators throughout the golf course and adjoining neighborhood, and will create a superhighway above the trees. Claudia hopes that when the golf course meadows bloom in the summer, people will get excited and add native plants to their own yards. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to spread habitat in their own spaces. I hope it’s a model and an example.” 

“Reaction from the community has been fantastic,” says Kris.. “They think it’s amazing that we’ve undertaken this project. I want it for everyone to see and enjoy, and live a healthy life around the golf course. My goal is to create spaces that will be here long after I leave.”

Barred Owls in Reston

Photo: Barred Owls, Lisa Mackem

By Lisa Mackem

Barred Owls are some of our most intriguing local birds. Most people will recognize their hoot-sequence call that sounds like, “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?”  Unlike many other owls, they are semi-nocturnal. Their name comes from their striped plumage, or “bars.” They are the only eastern owls with deep brown eyes, which can appear blue-black in certain light. Females are larger than males, and only females incubate chicks, or owlets.

I often see Barred Owls near my home – usually when they are quietly perched in trees, and once when one was sitting on the ground. Barred Owls have distinct personalities. They watch people  intently, but with different levels of tolerance. When I take pictures of them, some of these owls change positions as if striking various poses. They aren’t disturbed when I stand near or directly under their perch. Others hoot with apparent annoyance or anger and fly to a more distant perch.  

The varied behavior described above might be related to the presence of other birds in the area. Small songbirds recognize Barred Owls as a threat, and sometimes band together to harass or “mob” them. Crows especially have a long-standing animosity towards owls. They frequently mob Barred Owls, chasing them from perches and potential prey. The owls will sometimes attack and eat individual crows, or other small birds (although birds are not their preferred prey), but they will retreat from a mob. 

As Leigh Clavez wrote in The Hidden Lives of Owls, Barred Owls are the opportunists of the owl world, easily adapting to varied habitats, including mixed forests and disturbed areas. Although they prefer tree cavities, they will also use the nests of Red-shouldered Hawks, crows or ravens. They eat a variety of small mammals and birds, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates but they cannot catch cats and dogs. 

Great Horned Owls are the Barred Owls’ only natural enemy, but these owls are not seen frequently in Reston. Sadly, Barred Owls are often hit by cars when they swoop down to capture prey along a road. If the prey has been attracted by food people discarded out of a car window, the encounter can become deadly for the owl. I have seen some of these owl casualties along Lawyers Road in Reston. 

Barred Owl courtship begins in February and breeding is from March – August. They will lay 2-4 eggs, and the incubation period is 28-33 days. Owlets fledge at 35-40 days, but adults care for their young for at least 4 months – much longer than other owls. Young owls call for their parents with a distinctive screeching hiss. They have a fuzzy appearance until they are fully mature. Barred Owls often use the same nest sites, and can occupy territories for 2-3 decades, suggesting strong site fidelity over time. They do not migrate. Captive Barred Owls can live to their early 20’s, and wild owls live for 10-20 years. They mate for life, but if a mate dies, the survivor will likely mate again. 

Watch here to follow a pair of Barred Owls through their nesting.  

Reston Association's Biophilic Pledge Points Residents to AAH Wildlife Sanctuary Program

Photo: Butterfly Garden at Brookside Gardens, Elaine Mills

In 2018, Reston became part of the worldwide Biophilic Cities Network.  To help residents identify specific actions that will protect Reston's natural resources,  Reston Association's Environmental Advisory Committee is now deploying a Reston Biophilic Pledge.  Several Biophilic Pledge elements echo the Audubon at Home Healthy Yard Pledge, and the pledge element "Promoting biodiversity by supporting and creating wildlife-friendly habitat" points residents to the website for the Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary Program for more information on how to create habitat. 

Recovery of the Peregrine Falcon – A Conservation Success Story

Photo: Banding Peregrine Falcon Chicks, Robin Duska

by Lisa Mackem

In July, 2015, two Peregrine Falcon chicks were found on Market Street in Reston Town Center (RTC). They were taken to the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia and safely released into the wild.  No one realized Peregrine Falcons nested in Reston but the chicks prompted a discovery that two adult peregrines were nesting in RTC. The pair has continued to nest there for five years. 

The Reston Town Center peregrines have perhaps found an ideal environment for a nest site: inaccessible, protected from rain and harsh sun, and facing south. The surrounding area is full of prey all year, while tall building roofs nearby provide safe landing areas for fledglings.

The Center for Conservation Biology in Williamsburg, VA monitors Virginia’s Peregrine Falcon population. Last year, the center’s director, Dr. Bryan Watts, and Reston resident and raptor biologist Steve Potts banded the four RTC peregrines’ offspring, assisted by a team of volunteers. Boston Properties, which owns the building with the nest, allowed access for the banding. They allowed access again this year, when four more chicks were banded.

Peregrine Falcon chicks, Robin Duska

Peregrine and other raptor and avian banding is a management tool and the United States Geological Survey licenses master banders. Virginia peregrines receive green bands with alpha numeric coding that identifies the birds. Both banding and satellite tracking allow study of the peregrines’ migratory status. Approximately half of the Virginia peregrines migrate south to establish winter territories ranging from North Carolina to Colombia, South America. Remaining birds establish winter territories within the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. from Virginia through New York. 

The Peregrine Falcon was almost extinct in the eastern U.S. and listed as endangered in 1970. In 1975, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service appointed an Eastern Peregrine Falcon Recovery Team to develop and implement a recovery plan. A key part of the recovery strategy was the production and release of captive-reared falcons. (Cade and Fyfe 1978, Cade 2003.) From 1975 - 1985, 307 captive reared birds were released from sites on the Virginia Coastal Plain, as well as Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. Additional birds were released in Washington, DC and coastal North Carolina. This breeding population helped populate the eastern peregrine population so much that they were removed from the U.S. Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (Mesta 1999).  

The historic population of Virginia peregrines nested in the mountains, but modern birds depend primarily on man-made structures for nesting. Peregrines usually nest in towers, but are also found on bridges and buildings. Less common structures include abandoned shacks, water towers, military ships, and active smokestacks at coal-fired power plants. Peregrines are vulnerable to expected risk factors in urban areas, but the Virginia peregrine population has consistently prospered since the first successful breeding between 1979-1982. In 2018, Virginia supported 32 known peregrine breeding pairs – the highest peregrine population recorded in the state. The population continues to grow at an 8% annual rate. Ongoing management activities might partially explain the increase in reproductive rates observed over time. Artificial management structures include added gravel, nest trays, nest boxes, and predator guards. Peregrine pairs nesting within boxes or on trays produced more than twice as many young as pairs that did not. The peregrines’ health can also be monitored. If a young falcon shows signs of disease that can easily be treated, it can be cured, and returned to the nest. Birds of prey suffer mortality rates of up to 70%, so all available monitoring is extremely helpful.

Peregrines are often reported to be the fastest bird in the world, increasing their average cruising flight speed of 24 to 33 mph to 67 mph when in pursuit of prey. When stooping, or dropping on prey with their wings closed, it's been calculated that Peregrine Falcons can achieve speeds of 238 mph. 

Dr. Carla Dove, Program Manager at the Feather Identification Lab at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, analyzed bird remains found in the RTC nests in 2018 and 2019 and identified 12 prey species: Blue Jays, Common Grackle, European Starling, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, House Sparrow, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Bluebird, and American Woodcock. 

For more information about the peregrine falcon, see:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Peregrine_Falcon/id