Look, Mom, I can fly!

Well, almost, lol!

On 23 April 2015, I went on a birding walk with friends at Carburn Park. On the way home, I called in to see the Great Horned Owl family for just a short while mid-afternoon, on 23 April 2015. The oldest owlet was still out on a coniferous tree branch that was right by the nesting tree, and the two younger owlets were still in the nest. I think this must have been the "middle" owlet, exercising those wings that were not quite ready for flight, with Mom looking on. Called in again yesterday, 2 May 2015, after a great, full-day birding trip south of the city. Dad was in a fairly nearby tree, and the two youngest owlets were still on the nest. Only stayed a few minutes and didn't see Mom and the oldest owlet. No activity going on at all - and there were no other photographers there.

"With its long, earlike tufts, intimidating yellow-eyed stare, and deep hooting voice, the Great Horned Owl is the quintessential owl of storybooks. This powerful predator can take down birds and mammals even larger than itself, but it also dines on daintier fare such as tiny scorpions, mice, and frogs. It’s one of the most common owls in North America, equally at home in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards, cities, and almost any other semi-open habitat between the Arctic and the tropics.

Great Horned Owls are nocturnal. You may see them at dusk sitting on fence posts or tree limbs at the edges of open areas, or flying across roads or fields with stiff, deep beats of their rounded wings. Their call is a deep, stuttering series of four to five hoots." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/id

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_horned_owl