Madison asked Jonathan C. Slaght:

Hello! Is it hard to leave the owls after so much work to find and tag them? Do you follow the families of the original owls (how long do they live)? Or are they not as monogamous (besides the one) as they seem in the book? I'm worried that I would become too attached in research and fret over them, or I would obsessively make wild family trees. Thank you, I loved the book (and that you narrated it)!

Jonathan C. Slaght Hi Madison, sorry for taking a year to see this and answer your question. We try as possible to follow individuals but it's tough--they live in pretty inaccessible areas where it's hard to check on them very often, and they are very hard to spot. In Japan, they use nest boxes and try to tag the chicks before they fledge, which makes it a little easier to track them over time. As for being hard to leave them after so much work to find and tag....not really. I want them to live their lives as unencumbered and unmolested as possible, so getting in and getting out and letting them do their thing is my goal. Thanks for your questions and again my apologies for the lateness of my reply.

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