Two days ago our friend Cindy (one of our bird ID experts) sent an email with these terrific photos of two Barred Owls taken in her back yard in a Sandy Springs subdivision.  She was generous enough to let us post the pictures along with her story which follows.

“My husband & I live in the southern Roswell neighborhood of Northcliff, near the Chattahoochee River.  It’s a heavily forested, residential area with people & dogs walking, biking, running & playing in the river.  Wildlife is abundant in the area, but setting up a couple of bird feeders & bird baths [has helped] to bring the critters closer to you for observation.”

“Two owls sometimes visit our backyard late in the afternoon or early evening while I water plants & clean birdbaths. They usually perch on a low tree branch to watch me as a handful of brave chickadees brazenly scold the much larger owls.  We are thankful to get to observe these owl friends from time to time — especially in our own backyard.”

“I am a 4th generation Atlanta native & my background is in education & environmental science. My love of nature & the outdoors was influenced by my grandparents, who maintained a backyard organic garden for decades, long before ‘organic’ was cool. As a child, I cherished visiting them — watching birds & playing with worms, skinks & garter snakes while doing our outdoor chores.”

We have Barred Owls in Peachtree Park, but we haven’t been as successful as Cindy getting a picture.  However, we were able to record them calling in our back yard – check out our post title Who Cooks for You? from September.

We first met Cindy when she came to certify our yard as a wildlife sanctuary with the Atlanta Audubon Society.  It was fun and Cindy taught us a lot emphasizing these key attributes: “items like a water feature (birdbath), native plants that provide food, places for wildlife to hide (like  brush piles or shrubby area) & places for wildlife to nest & raise young.”

Join the fun and let’s get some more yards certified in Peachtree Park!