Tales From The Nest – Part 1 – 4/3 & 4

The call came on a Friday morning, just as I was packing to leave for a weekend Girl Scout Camp.

Great Horned Owl nest in a pine tree about 60-80 feet above ground

When my husband stopped in to visit a good friend on Friday morning, the friend showed him a nest in the top of a pine tree across the street from his house.  Originally, the nest had been built by a pair of Red Tailed Hawks last year.  This year, however, it had been taken over by squatters—a pair of Great Horned Owls!   Great Horned Owls don’t usually do much in the way of nest building.  Most of the time they will take over a tree cavity or an existing nest that was built by a large bird such as a hawk.  They will usually embellish it with some new twigs, pine boughs, or feathers.

Normally, I would have grabbed my camera and immediately jumped in my van and headed for the nest.  However, that particular day I was scheduled to pick up my troop of Girl Scouts and leave for camp within the hour.  The owls would just have to wait until I got back.  I have to admit that even though we had a great campout, those owls were on my mind the entire weekend.

As soon as I walked in the door on Sunday I persuaded my husband to show me where the nest was located.  The location was great!  Not only was the nest clearly visible if you knew where to look, but it could easily be photographed from inside my van, which made a great blind.   These are semi-urban owls who have nested in a residential neighborhood close to some open fields, and they are accustomed to the neighborhood vehicles coming and going at all hours. 

Here's Mamma!

Since the temperature that day was still a bit chilly with a brisk wind blowing, the owls were hunkered down in the nest.  You could just see the top of Mamma Owl’s head, with only her feather tufts and one suspicious eye showing to identify her.  Since the midday light would not make for good photographs, I vowed to return the next morning, if the weather was more cooperative, to see if there was more activity.

Bright and early the next morning I was stationed in my “blind” (my trusty Dodge minivan) and  had my camera and long lens at the ready.  Soon I was rewarded with the sight of Mamma peering over the edge of the nest. 

Mamma is on guard and ever watchful

Now anyone who photograph’s wildlife knows that a successful day is usually a lot of sitting and seeing nothing.  If you’re lucky you might be rewarded with brief periods of actual wildlife sightings.  This was the case with our Owls.  After sitting with camera ready for what seemed like an eternity I suddenly saw one downy little head pop up at the edge of the nest.   He stayed visible just long enough for me to fire off about thirty photos, and then he hunkered back down in the nest.  Was there only one baby?  Only time would tell.  From the looks of him they would be pretty young. 

Up popped a downy little bundle of mischief

Since the light was changing enough to make any further photos undesirable, I decided to call it a day and return again tomorrow.  Besides, I was beginning to get strange looks from the neighbors, who I’m sure were considering calling the police about the person with the pretty obvious camera taking photos in their neighborhood.   I decided to return the next morning and try again—perhaps armed with some decent photos to pass out to the neighbors to let them know I wasn’t a burglar casing the neighborhood.

Check back again for more “Tales From The Nest”.

Submitted by Gay Schroer, World Bird Sanctuary Volunteer/Photographer