How do you show affection when you don’t have arms and can’t hug someone? Well, obviously, you nibble their head with your beak.
The other night our cameras caught three screech owls in succession on one of their favorite backyard perches. We think that the first owl, who was making an unusual call and seemed like an adult, may have been the parent of the two youngsters who arrived a little later, and that he or she was calling the kids: “Where are you?”.
Of course, we never know for sure what’s going on or what the relationships are, but we love to imagine that we do.
The two youngsters were clearly siblings – or at least friends – and we recorded a little allopreening session, which is a fancy way of saying that we saw them nibbling each other and being extremely cute.
#texasbackyardwildlife