Why is she pointing like a little kid?

Little kids have this funny way of pointing. The pointing finger is extended and indicating something, but, unlike adults who extend an arm in the direction they are pointing, little kids keep the hand close to their body. It was explained to me that little kids do that because of not yet understanding spatial relationships. Being adults, Kathy and I have much more sophistication to our pointing processes.

As I made the turn from Spencer's Loop onto Partridge Point road I could see Kathy standing near the car. She heard me and turned. One finger went to her lips to shush me and she pointed--but kept her hand close to her body. Hmmmm, what it is?

I slowed, probably exaggerated stepping to better shush my approach. She peered into the woods. Oh. Owls. Owl with an "s" on the end. I can see two fluffy, mostly down-covered Barred Owls perched on two branches about fifty feet in from the road. They are doing the head bobbing, neck canting, raising their head up and down, expending all their, currently small bag of, tricks to see us better. We might be the first people they have seen. I can imagine their conversation:

What are they?
I don't know. We don't know anything yet.
Maybe they're people.
What's "people"?
I don't know. We don't know anything yet.
Where's mom?
Over there in a tree. She's got lunch.
What is it?
I don't...

"Mom is over there," Kathy points just to the right. I can see the adult owl, perched, holding lunch, waiting.

We can hear the clicking of communication. The young owls move back and forth, sort of hopping, sort of flying, one jump/flight is about twenty feet and is probably the limit at this stage of fledging. For owls that are raised in trees these first forays are referred to as "branching". The young have enough feathers to "jump/fly", but are comically clumsy. These two are still about half downy. They are good at walking along the branches of the trees, safe on the high branches as they gain ability, lose down, gain feathers, watch and listen to all the newness around them.

"Mom has something for them to eat."

We sat down and waited. Mom decided we were harmless and flew to the kids. Food took over all their attention as they did the hop/fly thing to get to the huge branch mom had landed on with lunch. It is an almost two stooges thing with enthusiasm outdoing agility and judgement. Mom kept the small snake pinned so they had to eat one from each side. Her way of making sure they each got some to eat. They had both survived this long. Within the next few days they will replace enough down with feathers to be able to fly. The branching will be over. They will become fledglings--able to fly, maybe catch enough things to survive, often heard hooting in the night, but seldom seen again.

Since they are out of their nest, we need to go check the eaglet tomorrow.