Feathered friends

We've had a Great Horned owl that has come to visit us each year in the late winter and early spring, usually he's gone by June or so. This year, we had two come to see us and live in our cedar tree out front. We've spent the spring removing their "left-overs" from under the tree before we mow....rabbit heads / mice / moles / the odd snake. I'd rather pick 'em up than spray them with the mower. :smiley11:

The two, were a mating pair, and today the surviving baby (we also picked up two dead babies from under the tree) finally got out of the nest a few feet. Pretty cool.
Hes on the left side of the frame, about a third of the way down. Shitty iphone photo, but I didn't wanna rush into the house to get the good camera.

http://www.cigarsmokers.com/attachme...7&d=1430244864

That is Awesome!!! Looks like a little Ewok.

Really cool.

WOW! I love owls, we have lots of Bard Owls around here, hootin' 'n hollerin' at night.:smiley36: Back in '02 when I was campaigning with a guy who was running for office, we were visiting people's houses and on a long driveway into the woods one afternoon, there was a huge, Great Horned Owl like yours up in a big ole pine tree staring us down.:smiley3: Then he took off and WOW, what a wing span on that guy.

Great picture!:smiley20:

Who talks about owls and then posts a picture of tree branches..........oh.....wait, I see it now. :smiley12:

Great pic, and congrats on the resident!

Very cool Jamie!

I'm a big fan of all raptors but really like owls. Prior to moving where I am now, the wife and I were living on an acreage 30 miles out of the city I was working in. Twice I had to call the electricity people to come out and reset our power because a young owl had landed on the transformer in our yard and shorted it out............dying in the process :smiley11:

I get some excellent pic's of owls while out hunting most every year and a couple years back, even got some pic's of a burrowing owl.

Earlier in my LE days I was called to handle a "bird" complaint. When I got there I found an owl standing in front of the complainants house. Long story short - there was a small foot pursuit (the owl could not fly) that resulted in me capturing the little critter. I took him to a local nature rescue center and was told it was very likely the bird was "domesticated" (e.g. had been living in someone's house). They suspected the "owner" had found it as a chick and raised it. The only trouble - the owl is protected and whomever had it was likely to face some serious federal consquences (we never located the "owner")...

My favorite recollection of the encounter. It was the first time I chased something that was looking me square in the eye the whole time it was running away (the owl had it's head completely swiveled backwards looking at me). It was freaky!

Well, our little buddy has flown the nest. For a few days we watched him jump from limb to limb in the cedar, while a few feet away from an Elm tree the mother clicked and clacked and cawed....trying to get the little one to fly I guess. My wife got lucky and saw the little guy bail from the tree and swoop over the garage headed to the hedgerow surrounding the wheat field behind our house. We haven't seen him since, though we still get the evening visits from Mom, sitting on the high-line poles and hooting in the evening. I don't expect to see her for too much longer though. Can't wait to see what happens next season. Here are a couple of photo's of the "baby" on the last day that I saw it. He was perched up in the top of the cedar, soaking up the evening sun for some reason. Again, shitty iphone pic.

http://www.cigarsmokers.com/attachme...0&d=1430833006

http://www.cigarsmokers.com/attachme...1&d=1430833008

That's awesome. I love summer nights when I hear them out back.