Overnight Visitor(s)

When I went outside this morning, I saw that this table, which was clear last night, was now covered in large bird droppings.

I didn’t sleep well (back spasm) and I got up well before dawn. I heard a great-horned owl calling outside. (This isn’t unusual; we have barn and great-horned owls nesting in the neighborhood.) But this is a lot of droppings for one owl in one night. My guess is that there were young owls sitting in the persimmon tree, getting fed by an adult. The fact that there was no evidence of food indicates that it was probably regurgitated for the young.

I’m glad there are enough mature trees where we live to host these species along with nesting Swainson’s hawks.