The Owlery
The continuing story of a family of Great Horned Owls - by Dave Brooks
Book Five
January 28, 2019 - This is the female Great Horned Owl snoozing in the late afternoon on a quiet, balmy day. She is resting in the eucalyptus treeline just below one of the two nests. She will take to her nest very soon and lay her eggs.
February 7, one week later and she he is settled in her nest. She is using the newer nest, the same one she used last year.
February 24, this is the male owl, posted up on guard duty and taking some time to attend to grooming needs.
A few seconds later - this shot is un-cropped for a more distant view taken at 750mm to give something of an idea of the degree of difficulty to spot an owl in this setting from my position about 80 yards away. 750mm is similar to looking through 12 power binoculars so if you were looking for this owl with the naked eye it would be very hard to spot it in a location such as this.
People are passing by below on every side pretty much each day and the owls are very much accustomed to having people as neighbors. They are comfortable with our presence as long as normal distances are maintained. I always take great care to respect their needs and when others notice the owls I take time to carefully and kindly explain to them the critical importance of keeping appropriate distance from the owls. Everyone I have shared this with has respected the conditions needed.
February 24th - Here are the encroachers! Crows have a longstanding combative relationship with Great Horned Owls. Neither party cares for the other in any way. The crows are a threat to the young nestling owls. The owls can and do attack and kill crows, given the right conditions. The crows know this well and take most every opportunity to harass and annoy the owls. The commotion and racket can be very busy and loud with twenty and more crows mobbing a resting owl during the day.
March 9th - The mother owl laid her eggs sometime around the end of January or the very beginning of February. The eggs take about 30 to 35 days of incubation before hatching. This photo shows a brief glimpse of one of the chicks probably within a week after hatching. This chick was moving around the nest a bit and I was lucky enough to capture the moment. It was drizzling a fine mist at the time this was taken.
April 2nd - Three weeks later and we have a fuzzy, downy owlet with mother. This nestling period runs about 42 days according to The Cornell Lab’s “All About Birds” website. So, sometime around the middle of April this chick and its sibling will graduate to “branching” and will begin venturing out, walking along the branches nearest their nest and slowly venturing farther out as their skills and confidence grow. During this period that may last a month or more, the owlets begin slowly growing adult plumage.
April 27th - Some of the transition into adult plumage is beginning to show as barely seen here along the outer wing on the left side of this healthy young owl.
April 27th - Our two young owls of 2019 finally make an appearance together for my camera. Up until this, I was pretty certain there were two owls born this year as there seemed to be more movement in the nest than one nestling could produce, but I was never sure so I was in suspense for quite a while.
Minutes later - In just several days, the increase in adult plumage and facial appearance is quite apparent. The horns are very slow in developing.
May 1st, 9:03am - This shot is pulled back somewhat to show mom nearby to her brood. You can see that this nest is built into a great place where the main trunk splits off into several large branches. The nest is more than two feet deep and spans close to four feet at its widest making for a roomy nursery and rumpus room as well as providing nicely for early flight training.
May 7th, 4:37pm - I am pretty sure this is the father owl, he has a much smaller white bib, or collar than the mother owl. Always on guard but very rarely visible while doing so, at least to me and I have certainly been actively looking for him to see where his preferred roosts are located for guarding his family. This spot is a few trees away from and slightly higher than the nest.
May 9th, 10:24am - A week later and we can clearly see the beginning patterns of adult plumage across the chest of this young owl.
May 11th, 4:02pm, - And the definition and detail of the facial disc surrounding the eyes becomes more pronounced. The facial disk assists in hearing for the owls as it funnels and focuses sounds to their ears.
May 14th, 3:07pm - By the middle of May the adult feathers are really showing clearly now. Our young owls are by now fully fledged and flying very well and improving their skills each day. Notice wing stretch by the owl on the right. Wing stretches are used regularly by most if not all raptors and they provide for some entertaining poses. I really like this shot a lot and I think it displays a good showing of owl attitude.
May 14th - Fifteen minutes later and they are still comfortable at this spot.
May 14th - Ten minutes later and they have moved over and are working their way along this branch.
May 14th - Five seconds later and they have focused on me in an even exchange. I was about sixty yards away from them throughout this series of photos and they showed no concern, they soon returned to their shuffle along this branch.
May 14th - Fifteen minutes later they have all left the branch and spread out to separate locations. This is the mother owl launching into flight from a higher branch very near the nest.
May 14th - They are quite beautiful in flight! Unhurried powerful wingstrokes on a very sure course.
May 14th - They are powerful fliers and their flight is nearly silent thanks to their specially evolved feathers that feature fine wispy edges that very effectively minimize air turbulence and the resultant sound that occurs from strong wing strokes by large birds.
May 14th - She landed up and over here and within a minute had puffed up in this roused aspect. I start to laugh every time I come to this shot. She held this pose for a minute or so.
May 16th, 2:22pm - A lucky moment and I was able to catch this youngster grooming while showing off a fine tail spread.
This is the end of Book Five
This tale is continued in Book Six.