Whooo you looking at
Billy Houston posted this picture on H&H Facebook and asks the following, “This owl was sitting on my back yard fence last week watching my cat. I recently moved to Forest Hills and wondered if this was unusual to see owls in the daytime?”
I have seen owls during the daytime, their wing span is super wide when flying over us… tell your cat to beware. Now if Forest Hill could just get more bats to move in…
Your cat would be better off watching from inside.
I haven’t seen one in the daytime but there was a super-loud one outside of my bedroom window this weekend. Wonder if it was this guy?
We had one perched on our adirondack chair one afternoon, but believe that was the only daytime sighting.
We used to have seasonal barred owls near us a few years back in Westover Hills – it was not unusual to see them in daytime, especially on Tuesdays before the garbage was picked up. They’d sit on the electric wire awaiting rodents in the ally.
We have bats here big time! I just had some neighbor clients hire a professional to humanely help them relocate.
You are definitely lucky to see one in the daytime. The younger ones are more likely to venture out in daylight hours. There is a decent population of barred owls in the neighborhood so you will see them fairly often, but usually after dark.
I think there is a direct correlation between the lack of owls on my street and the disappearance of my tomatoes. Stupid squirrels. Incidentally, horny owls make a tremendous amount of noise. You won’t have any doubt they’re out there.
This one looks like a juvenile barred owl. Juvies are fluffier, and usually let you get closer, and will sometimes do a high pitched “zzzzzzzzzZZZZZ!” at you, which means, “Where are the snacks?” Don’t leave your cat out. Besides the owls, we have some mean hawks around here.
(Unless the were living inside the house,) Why on earth would someone relocate bats? The mosquito problem over here is just awful. Bats are the best help for that, and don’t kill every other thing in sight, like those toxic mosquito spraying companies.
@Lisa, while the mosquito killing factor is great the guano attracting roaches and mites and growing spores that can lead to histoplasmosis is not. Anyone with sensitive lungs should be careful around a bat colony. I wouldn’t move a colony but there are plenty of reasons to do so.
We had a family of bats take up residence in our attic a couple summers back and had Critter Control humanely remove them. It was rather interesting to note that the guy from Critter Control said that a large portion of his ‘bat business’ is in the 2 blocks on either side of Westover Hills Blvd from Forest Hills to the Nickel Bridge — right where we are!
jd, our house is located in the “bat zone” and we had the same issue with bats in the attic and used Critter Control. I wonder if we all just keep moving the same band of stubborn bats that have decided they are house bats.
At this time of year it isn’t unusual to see owls out in the daytime, as this years crop of new owls explore thir surroundings. The one in the photo is probably one of this years youngsters: this is the season for flight school and hunting lessons for young owls.
http://vafwis.org/fwis/booklet.html?Menu=_.Life+History&bova=040209&version=15600
The state has a great website, vafwis.org for finding overviews of animal behavior, and other data…the Virginia Fish and Wildlife Information System has compiled BOVA, or Biota of Virginia booklets that are available online. You can access basic information about many native species of animal.
A great resource!
http://vafwis.org/fwis/?Title=VaFWIS+Species+Information
How much does Critter Control run? I know I have bats in my attic, but they don’t bother me and I don’t bother them – I just need to make sure they’re out of there before I redo my roof.