The morning dawned dark and dreary, in short a great day to go owling. While we humans love bright sunny blue sky days, you will almost never find owls out during daylight hours given those weather conditions. Thus, around 6 am I drove up to Sax Zim Bog in the hope I might find some Great Gray Owls hunting into the daylight hours. Fifteen minutes into my search I hit paydirt and found a mature great gray owl.

Normally, finding one owl would be considered a great day of birding, but the day would soon get phenomenally better. After five minutes of watching the adult Great Gray Owl it flew deeper into the forest. I thought I could still see the owl, thus I got out of the car with my binoculars which is when I heard the first “screech”. My heart pumped with excitement, and after a short hike along the road, I found not one, but two Great Gray Owl chicks which were begging for breakfast. These two juveniles proceeding to screech and call for Mom (or Dad) for almost one hour … flitting from one tree to another.

Finally I decided the hundreds of mosquito bights I had endured to watch and take photographs were enough, and I got back in my car and drove out the remote direct road back towards civilization. A few miles down the road I discovered a couple who were out birding. I stopped and asked if they would like a real treat, as seeing Great Gray Owl chicks in the forest might be a once in a lifetime event. Their answer was a quick yes, and I led them back down the road where we refound the young owls. This couple was from northern Germany, which made sharing the experience with them even more special. It was fun to show these beautiful birds to some folks who had flown from 1/2 way around the world to bird Sax-Zim Bog.

I hope you enjoy my photographs and video.

The Great Gray Owl Twins

Screaming at Mom (or Dad): Feed Me!!!

Mom (or Dad) was Perfectly Willing to Ignore the Summons!

Another Tree in which to Hang Out

The Stare