March 31, 2019 - Great horned Owl Nest - 1

This huge nest was located near a public street about two blocks from where we stayed on St. George Island, Florida. Last year it was occupied by a pair of Bald Eagles. I checked it periodically this year but didn’t see any eagles around it.

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Then, on February 5, I noticed a Great Horned Owl sitting there. It had apparently taken over the nest from the eagles. Great Horned Owls do not build their own nests, they reuse ones that have been built by another large bird, or a squirrel, or they use a hole in a tree. They are entirely capable of fighting off an eagle and it looked like that is what happened here.

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I never want to disturb a nesting bird, so I stayed a respectable distance away. It’s going to look like I got some really close shots but that’s because I have a very long lens and, in some cases, I heavily cropped the photo.

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On February 8, I was finally able to confirm that two baby owls were in the nest. They were probably a few days old already when I took this picture.

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Sometimes, one of the adult owls was sitting in a nearby tree.

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Here’s a cute photo of a baby owl snuggled into the breast feathers of the adult owl. I’ll have more photos of this owl family over the next two weeks.

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