Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: two owlets

Not the best quality image, due to the sun being in the "wrong" place,, but it's the best of the ones I took. Couldn't resist posting it - the owlets were so cute! When we first pulled over, both owlets were higher but my photos, taken through the windshield, didn't come out. Then one dropped down (you can just see one of its eyes). It was so cute, because the left hand one would gradually sink down till its eyes were just visible over the nest. Curiosity made it lift its head and then again, the tiny, fluffy head would slowly sink. Didn't stay more than a matter of minutes, wanting to let the owlets get their afternoon nap. The day before yesterday, 14 April 2014, I spent this wonderful, fun day with my youngest daughter, driving the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns. We knew where our destination was going to be, more or less, though it was disappointing that the "heat wave" distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos. Unfortunately, it was quite a hazy day, which really didn't help. Once we got really close, the problem thankfully went away. Our drive was not to see one kind of thing only. Both of us love to photograph anything beautiful or interesting. Naturally, birds were on our wish list, too, and we were lucky to come across several different species. The very first place I drove to, was to see a particular Great Horned Owl nest. Those who know me won't be at all surprised to hear that I couldn't find the nest that I had intended going to, lol! I was so confident driving to where I "knew" it would be, yet there was no sign of it. Next time I go back to that area, I will have to have a longer look. Other birds seen included a beautiful Meadowlark (photo posted today) that I was so thrilled to see, a Red-tailed Hawk, Pintails, Northern Shovelers, and lots of elegant Swans which looked so beautiful in the sunshine with the distant Rocky Mountains in the background.

A couple of evenings ago, when I was watching the Great Horned Owl family in Fish Creek Park, one of the owlets coughed up a pellet. However, instead of spitting it out, it swallowed it again, then coughed it up again, swallow, and so on, over and over again, LOL. I don't think I've ever captured a pellet being coughed up before. I also captured some funny expressions while it was doing this, with its face all screwed up, but it makes the face take on an almost human look, which was a little creepy. After a long morning walk at Carburn Park today, I called in to see "my" owls and then took just a short walk and found another pair of Great Horned Owls that I had been told about. Saw two adults but no sign of any young ones. Warning: this is a VERY heavily cropped image, so don't bother looking at large size, LOL. "A pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird's pellet depend on its diet, but can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth .... Hawk and owl pellets are grey or brown, and range in shape from spherical to oblong or plug-shaped. In large birds, they are one to two inches long .... The hair, bones and other body parts (such as limbs, skin fragments, and even faeces) of rodents found in owl pellets may carry viable rodent viruses and bacteria. It is therefore advisable to sterilize pellets in a microwave oven before study. This is particularly important when using pellets at school." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_(ornithology)