April 22, 2012 - Baby Owls
Read MoreOne of my photographer friends, Shirley Doyle, took me to Silverwood Park in New Brighton, MN and showed me a huge tree with a Great Horned Owl nest in it. Only two juvenile owls were perched out in the open at that time. Our office is near the park so I came back later in the afternoon and all three owlets were visible. The one in the bottom right corner is sitting at the entrance to the nest hole.
Many visitors walk through the park each day on the paved trail right near the tree, so the owlets are used to seeing people. Here’s a photo taken from the other side of the tree. Something rustling around in the grass caught their attention. I didn’t see what it was but they were intently focusing on it.
NOTE: Karla Bloem, an owl expert, contacted me to say that these owlets are 5 to 6 weeks old based on their feather development. (At three weeks, the wing feathers would just be starting to appear and the owlets would not be out of the nest yet.)One of the park visitors told me the owlets were about three weeks old. NOTE: Karla Bloem, an owl expert, contacted me to say that these owlets are 5 to 6 weeks old based on their feather development. (At three weeks, the wing feathers would just be starting to appear and the owlets would not be out of the nest yet.) In this photo you can see that the wing feathers have almost completely grown out. It won’t be long before the owlets are flying. I didn’t see any sign of the adult owls, but the young ones are grown up enough that they can be left on their own for extended periods of time. Perhaps the adults were off hunting. It takes a lot of food to keep three hungry youngsters satisfied.
Michael Brodie
on April 23, 2012Earl,
Great pictures as always. The baby owls are great. My grandchildren love your photos and will really enjoy athese latest ones.
Beth
on April 23, 2012Beautiful photos, Earl.Those young owls are so big already! I find it interesting how the color of great horneds vary so much regionally. Those in ND are so much grayer compared to these.
Love the background in the bluebird photos-that blue really pops out.
The wood duck drake looks like he's been using hair gel for that "slicked back" look-such colorful ducks, aren't they? Thanks for sharing.