Temaet for i år er Drømme - dobbelthed, så lad os se, hvad der falder mig ind til det tema.
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Every day at noon (except Sundays) a new A-Z post goes live - or no post today.
The theme for this year, is Dream - Duality. let's see what crosses my mind on this theme.
O for Ookie-pookies & Owls
Some days ago Messymimi had the right diagnosis for one of the things bothering me: The Ookie-pookies. This is a general feeling that the universe is conspiring to make you as miserable as possible, with things you can't help, nor really complain about without sounding ungrateful and whiny.
Something like this: Everything is just plain old stupid. News, friends, family, social media, the nature around me, and even myself - everything is drab, boring, stupid. Nobody ever listens, Nobody ever understands anything. Everybody but me is going places and having fun. The one day I want to go to an outdoor event, is the one day it rains in a long row of sunshiny days. When I go to bed I have to go for a pee. When I go shopping the items on my list are sold out ... You know the feeling, I'm sure. This time I just have it bad, and each time I begin getting out, something new comes along and hits me over the head.
Now I'm trying to chase the Ookie-pookies by telling about the Owls.
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We go back in time to February. The Owls have arrived, inspecting their nest and digging it deeper.
DaddyOwl has been Hoo-hooing and showing off the nest for hours on end each night, serving fat rats and mice for MommyOwl, and finally ... eggs are laid, and MommyOwl is incubating and emitting small complacent sounds, with DaddyOwl diligently and encouragingly hooting and bringing in food every night.
But then ...in the middle of the night an unwelcome visitor arrived. A marten. MommyOwl and the marten fought a long, furious battle, lasting for ten minutes, and ending with them rolling over the edge of the nest and down the almost man high drop in front of it. MotherOwl did not return, and a bleeding, wounded marten made off with the eggs.
The text says: And runs away with one of the eggs.
Then the nest was empty for days. Why MommyOwl did not return to defend her eggs after the tumble we'll never know.
Next morning (March 24, 2022 10.52 am) he wrote: The female owl was sitting on 3 eggs in the nest. One of the eggs was cracked during the fight and the marten took one of the other eggs. The last egg has become cold, and will not hatch.
It looks like only the marten was wounded during the fight, we can see blood on its left side and right ear.
The owls won't try hatching again this year, but we hope for them to return next year.
(Cut off):We'll let the camera run a bit longer to look for the owls.
Some days later, we were treated to this sight:
And this last one from today: MommyOwl incubating 3 new eggs. What was not supposed to happen, actually did happen.
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All photos are stills from the Owl-Webcam. Courtesy of DOF (The Danish Ornithological Society). Here you can follow the nest in real time, and find links to YouTube videos from previous years: Owlets being ringed by Klaus; MommyOwl chasing the fox away; DaddyOwl serving rats; and even Br'er Fox making off with the owlets one year.
Ookie-pookies sounds too much fun to be a bad thing but I guess if you feel bad about your life, having a fun name for it is kind of fun.
SvarSletWhy wasn't DaddyOwl to help MommyOwl protect their eggs? Where the heck was he at the time? I guess since he's there the second time, perhaps he has learned not to leave his wife alone again.
Have a lovely day.
Yes, having a name for it that makes me smile every time I think of it can't be bad.
SletDaddyOwl was out doing his job, which is fetching rats from a nearby dump for MommyOwl to eat while incubating and later for the owlets too. That's the way owls do it. He don't incubate, she don't go food hunting. I'm sure he would have come to the rescue if he had known help was needed, but MommyOwl kept silent all during the fight.
Owls are a WONDERFUL antidote for the ookie-pookies. My heart was in my mouth but I am very glad that the brave family are trying again. Very, very glad.
SvarSletThank you. I'll bring updated from time to time of the owls.
SletHow wonderful that the owls are incubating a new set of eggs. Nature is brutal at times but also resilient.
SvarSletExactly. And I like how they diid something no experts foresaw. Yay for owls!
SletIt's wonderful that we can still hope for a happy ending.
SvarSletWe sure can do that.
SletSorry, but you made me laugh (was your intention, right?)
SvarSletDarn it, the night thing. And mind you, sold out stuff!
Thankfully people still listen, well, most!
Fun-fact: I was so excited and told my friend we have owls in the yard!!!
Next time she was there she said. "That´s a stupid, icky dove."
Oh, I would love to see and hear an owl for real! Have you read about Wesley? A wonderful book about raising an owl.
Yes it was myintention. The best way of perpetuating the Ookie-pookie are taking them serious, I think.
SletOwls and dowes are n ot the same, no :)
We do not have owls in uour garnden, but when I listen at nigth I can hear tham hoo-hooing over the nearby fields, and I even once had to brake for an owl crossing the road very fast and very low. Since then I always went slow just there and actually saw it more times.
Wesley, no. Sounds interesting Thanks.
I hope the eggs are successfully hatched this time and no more sign of the marten.
SvarSletThe man regulating this and that in the dig site (they dig for sand and gravel there) where the owls are nesting, are watching out for more traces of martens. He has not seen any recently. We all hope the marten died from its wounds.
Slet