Just a few short weeks after Snowmaggedon, another system came in and threatened to dump a load of freezing rain/snow accompanied by the driving problems power outages that so excited us last time. As it turns out, the temperatures stayed warm enough that snow didn't accumulate on the roads. However the wind was wicked - gusting to 90 miles an hour and driving the rain/sleet/snow sideways. I know the farmers need moisture and all, but I much prefer moisture falling as rain, and vertically.
Aside from a 15 minute power outage, we got off lightly. But what about the owls? Will no-one think of the owlets?
A family of great horned owls have been nesting at the lower levels of the university. This is how the nest looked before the storm. I am not sure how much was built this year, and how much is leftover from the previous year. Actually, now that I look at it again, maybe that stuff to the right isn't really the functioning nest at all any more. Maybe it's like renovation debris - if you view it large, you can see that there's all kinds of feathers and pellets and crap embedded in the twigs.
Meanwhile.....
I really wanted to see how the owls were doing after all that horrid weather. They're there, and the little guy looks strong and hefty, but wow, there isn't much left of their nest. I'm really amazed anything is left at all. They must have been sitting right on it and clinging for dear life. The wind was dreadful and there's very little shelter here.
Happily, this is the only consequence of that storm; a strange ice formation on the windshield of the car, a sheet of ice that curled itself up into an almost-delicious looking roll.
more owl pictures, this year and the last, are at Flickr: Owls on campus
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