I just took this photo about 30 minutes ago! 
Last night my Great Horned Owl family hunted in my yard around 2:15 am. There is a large dead tree near my bedroom which they were using as a perch. I decided this morning it was time this morning to find the daytime roost. Success!
One of the owl’s common daytime roost’s is about 2/3 of a mile hike from my yard. Back on February 8th I first started watching my Great Horned Owl family when the Mom first sat on the nest and laid her first egg (thus … over six months ago). I had been listening to the parents romancing each other with “after dark hoots” since late November of last year.
Beware tunnel vision when birding. I watched Hoot for over five minutes before I realized another owl was watching me! Thankfully, I had been motionless and had not spooked my friends.
- While approaching an owl, if you are off trail and in deep forest, look at the ground. My owls put up with my presence “unless” I am a clod and step on a branch. Loud noises of a stick breaking are hated.
- Take your time. This morning, once I saw two of my owls, I spent close to 10 minutes just to move 30 yards.
- Take some images and slowly exit the scene. My owls now seem to trust that I am not a threat. I leave them and almost never flush the owls by accident.
- Get to know your local crows, blue jays, robins, nuthatches, chickadees, etc. All of these birds have different alarm calls, and will lead you right to the owls. I am often within 50 yards of my owl family in deep thickets of pines … without the help of other birds on many days I would never find them.
Crow!
When I look at the many young birds in our yard, quite confident and competent now, it amazes me to think that it was such a short time ago that they were just eggs… or merely a twinkle in their parents eyes. What a wonderful journey you’ve had with your owl family – thank you for taking the time and the trouble to document it so the rest of us can enjoy it vicariously.
I’ve yet to see (or hear) a great horned owl. We do have barred owls though that I hear often and see from time to time. Do great horned and barred owls coexist?
Jill: Barred and Great Horned Owls definitely do not coexist. Great Horned Owls rule when it comes to owls in the Northwoods. In fact, Great Horned Owls will kill Barred Owls if they find them in their territory. I can personally attest to this fact, as I found feathers from a Barred Owl underneath the nesting site this winter. Obviously a Barred Owl had become a meal for my owlets.
Generally you will not find Barred Owls in pine groves here in northern Minnesota (preferred habitat). Great Horned Owls get these thick thickets of trees, whereas Barred Owls will nest in cavities or the tops of dead trees in deciduous forest areas. This may vary in other parts of America.
Thanks Rich. I suppose I’m going to have to find some fresh habitat if I ever want to find myself a great horned owl. Of course, I can just enjoy our barred owls (and I do). I’m still getting my head around the the thought of birds fierce enough to kill and eat a barred owl!