Baby owl

[AgingEyes]

I have a feeling many photos of this baby great horned owl must be floating around on the net by now. I took them yesterday and, no doubt, I was not the only one there. I guess some of them may have been training their cameras on the owls all day. Thousands of photos must have been taken of the baby owls as quite a few of them just shot in burst mode. Me? One shot at a time Not great images but just want to share them with those of you who have never seen baby owls before.

There are three baby owls all together in that nest. This one was the closest to us.

See where they are ?




Closer and from another angle:









Just like its parents, most of the time its eyes were closed.

Too bad I missed the one when the owl spread its wings.

And you've met one of its parents before:

It's hiding pretty well, too!

I think the two parents have been staying there since winter. Last time I was there it was March 25. A bunch of us was watching one of the adult owls got harassed by two crows, one on the right and the other one on the left. The crows were screaming at the owl the whole time. One even dropped twigs on to the owl. If it were me I would have killed the crows right then and there...with them screaming at me non-stop like that But, the owl basically just stood its ground, literally, stayed in the nest (where the baby owls are in the photos) and did nothing. Once in a while it would spread its wings and scream back when the crows went a bit too close. I was told by one of the spectators that the owl was protecting its egg. Don't know how the harassments ended but, apparently, the eggs were saved.

Oh, that adult owl that you saw in my other photo, it's still sitting there.

[Knight]

Now this is a awesome treat I have trouble seeing a adult owl every couple of years lol . Your lucky to be able to witness the adult couple raising their young ones . I don't know how long you will have the young around ,but make sure you get some more photos as they grow and post them up

[victorhuang20]

so cute!!!

[polarbeardiggers]

really great captures,very well done thanks for sharing.

[mn shutterbug]

What do you mean, not great images. I disagree. They are awesome. I enjoyed every one of them.

[scott-devon]

Very very nice and what a great opportunity!

[Loupey]

Even if you found it with a bunch of other people, it still is an awesome find.

I still haven't seen a single owl yet this year.

[AgingEyes]

Thanks all of you!!

Knight: no idea how long the owls will stay. So, more photos as they grow could be...a tall order to fill But, definitely I'll take a look at them every time I go there.

mm shutterbug: glad you enjoyed the photos.

Loupey: there's always hope..and next time...and next time...

[AmberC]

Oh that is soooo cute! I had to call my two year old over to see hehe. She loves them, she said "He has Biiiig eyes and a little nose!"

Amber

[VinnyC01]

That's really cool. Thanks for sharing. Nice shots and capture.

[Knight]

Congrats on the FP, well deserved

[AgingEyes]

Congrats on the FP, well deserved

Thanks!

I guess I have to thank the owl, too I do hope next time I go there, the owls are still around.

[Canon_Bob]

Congrats on the FP! This is a cool series!

[AmberC]

Aww Congrats on FP!!

Amber

[retroactiv]

What a bunch of cute owls, and they do look very young. And a big congrats on Featured Photo.

[jgredline]

Very nice AE....

[AgingEyes]

Thanks Canon Bob, Amber, Chris and Javier!

I paid a visit to the owls yesterday. Here's a photo that hopefully you could see there're three of them in the nest. Two of them you can see their eyes...well...one of their eyes and the third one is between those two. Somehow the owls look bigger than last time.



It was difficult to get a good shot of them. It was windy yesterday and the leaves and branches were always in the way.

[jgredline]

Those difficult shots are the most rewarding...Great going on the feature and well deserved!

[AgingEyes]

Another one from yesterday.



One of my colleagues said it was a face that only the mother would love

[AgingEyes]

Found more photos. It turned out that I'd made a mistake on when the mother owl was "fighting" with two crows, trying to protect the eggs. I found the following two shots and they were shot on Feb 24, 2008.

This one shows how close one of the crows was to the owl:




She turned around at some point and "screamed" back. When that shot was taken,the crow had moved to another spot.



As you can see, in Feb, there weren't that many leaves on the tree.

[AgingEyes]

Visited the owls today. Apparently, they're getting bigger and this one even left the nest. It was on another tree about 30 ft down. Don't know how it got there, but it seemed to be kind of wondering what to do and where to go from there. Perhaps still learning how to fly. Some said the momma would come pick it up home. But the mom does not look too big to me either. Anyhow, had to call it a day myself. Here are some of the shots for record purposes.





Pretty bad angle for this one, eh? I just wanted to show it spreading its wings.













I don't know how much longer the owl family would still be there.

[Loupey]

That #3 is WOW!

Hopefully this little fella will make it back to its nest. Thanks for keeping us updated.

[paulnj]

That owl will no be able to fly for atleast 3 weeks, but damn is that a amazing group of images!!!!

[AgingEyes]

That owl will no be able to fly for at least 3 weeks...

Then I hope I'll see them at least a couple more times.

[paulnj]

I am fairly confident that you will. You may find them on the ground under the nest and after fledging they will hang out near the nest for awhile while the parents teach them to hunt.