Before a few days ago, I had never heard a Great Gray Owl hooting. Yesterday evening Poppa GGO put on a “hoot fest” for me … a few times you can even hear its owlets in the video begging for food in the background. It was truly a special time yesterday evening for me all by myself on a remote road in northern Minnesota. Wait, I did have company … four owls! I overexposed the video a bit such that the owl is not just a shadow!

Great Gray Owl Hoot Fest (video link for blog subscribers)

Magical moments in the Northwoods are defined by spending an entire hour with this Great Gray Owl by myself on a remote dirt road in northern Minnesota, not once but twice in the last 24 hours … both last night before sunset (the hootfest) and then again this morning just after sunrise.

Poppa Great Gray Owl (Yesterday Evening just before Sunset)

Poppa Great Gray Owl (Shortly After Dawn this Morning)

Just chilling out!

Time to escape the sun and hide!

You may ask how I am able to tell this is the same owl and poppa:

1. I found the owl within yards of the exact same location yesterday evening and this morning
2. Momma Great Horned Owl has a squawk she uses to communicate right now
3. The Owlets / Juveniles screech
4. Thus, the “hooter” is Poppa! (I listened to online recordings to confirm)

I did not plan to be gone for 7 hours when I left home shortly after 5 am yesterday morning, but when I was treated to a magical morning of birding …

Upon leaving the house I was presented with heavy fog upon climbing away from Lake Superior. Although I could not see much, only a few hundred yards, the fog ended up being a blessing in disguise. The dark, calm conditions were perfect for some Great Gray Owls I have been tracking since late Winter. The darkness meant the owls were still talking to each other when I arrived on location, and better yet in addition to all the hooting, there were now distinctive screeches coming from two different directions … owlets / juveniles!

I had almost given up hope of discovering a Great Gray Owl family. Mid August seemed way to late in the summer for younger juveniles, but just like my own local Great Horned Owls, raising families is running way late this year. Having had snow on the ground well into May in the deep forest, and lakes which did not go ice free till the middle of May obviously delayed nesting for many bird species.

Here are the four member of the Great Gray Owl family. You may ask how I am able to uniquely identify each member of the family. Each owl had a distinctive call, and was located in a slightly different direction from the other family members. The fog made photography difficult, but I am NOT complaining.

Juvenile Great Gray Owl #1 (owlet)

Juvenile Great Gray Owl #2 (owlet)

Screeching … the Movie (owlet)
(video link for email subscribers)

Momma Great Great Owl

Foreground: Mom — Background: Juvenile

Poppa Great Gray Owl

Eventually the fog burned off after a few hours, and I turned my focus to one of my local Osprey families. Over the past five days I have watched the two juvenile ospreys very closely. It is obvious they are ready to make their first flights, but are scared to make the first jump.

Thus, what is a Poppa Osprey supposed to do when your youngsters just refuse to take their first flight?? For this Dad it meant land with a fish, but take off very quickly w/o letting either of its two juveniles have a bite to eat. The parent osprey made this trip four times, never leaving the fish! Momma Osprey is to the far right, and the “two chicks” are in the middle.

Poppa Osprey Arrives … and Leaves Again Quickly
(video link for email subscribers)

Images of the happy osprey family

Ready for am excellent read about nature / wildlife photography? (the images in this case are NOT what is important)

I originally learned about the amazing journey of Hidehiro Otake via an article in Perfect Duluth Day. Knowing essentially nothing about nature, let alone wilderness, Otake was inspired by a dream about wolves and came upon Jim Brandenburg‘s book, Brother Wolf. For most of us, the story might end at this point, but Otake who had recently finished school was dissatisfied with a potential life in urban Japan. Knowing nothing about wilderness or photography, but wanting to experience “brother wolf” and learn photography, he bought an airline ticket from Tokyo to Minneapolis. Otake’s goal was to reach Ely and the Northwoods and meet Jim Brandenburg. Only there were a few problems; Jim Brandenburg was not expecting Otake (or even aware he existed), nor was there any means of reaching Ely via public transportation (let alone Brandenburg’s remote cabin on the edge of the BWCA).

Remember I said it was an amazing journey? Otake eventually met Brandenburg, started a lifelong friendship and lived on his land near Ely for a few months. In addition, he was introduced and became friends with Will Steger, the famous Ely based explorer who has trekked to both poles by dogsled. Years later Hidehiro Otake is one of the best Japanese nature photographers.

• Read the five part story of Otake’s  journey. (fascinating read!!!)
  • Facebook Site for Hidehiro Otake (official)
  • National Geographic Japan (in Japanese … just enjoy the images!)

As a fyi, Otake does not have a large presence in North America (understandable), but is well known in Japan. I felt this blog post expanded our horizons. Folks should really read Otake’s five part story. You will learn that most anything is possible if you follow your dreams! When I learned that one of Otake’s first published works was a young children’s piece, I just had to reach out to the gentleman! We are now in contact.