Owl Be Back
While kayaking last May, I saw a bird and chicks in a nest high above the river, thinking it was a great horned owl I had seen there previously. It wasn’t. It was a red-tailed hawk. Well, I paddled that same same stretch of the river yesterday, and the great horned owl is back.
(click images to see larger view in new tab)
And there is a chick in the nest with it.
After a short while, the adult flew off, presumably to draw my attention away from the nest. It didn’t work.
high above river
great nest no longer empty
owl raising new young
Ken G.
rivrvlogr 
Excellent to hear you are out and about. Enjoy Spring!!!!
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😀
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How cool! Thanks for sharing your wonderful shots.
(Maybe the hawk had a sublet?) 😉
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lol
AIR B&B
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Hahahaha–yes, the original version! 🙂
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Cornell’s All About Birds says they usually adopt a nest that was built by another species – usually Red-tailed Hawks, other hawk species, crows, ravens, herons, or squirrels.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/lifehistory
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Ah–so it might have been the hawk’s nest to begin with. Interesting!
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This is so wonderful! The picture you took of the baby was interesting and adorable. The area around the eyes reminded me of the eyes of a raccoon! Thank you for sharing this with us! 🙂 ❤
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🙂 Thank you.
It almost looks like a stuffed animal.
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Wonderful pics!
Perhaps Owl and Hawk are time-sharing on a first-come-first-lay-claim basis? (Claim being egg …)
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Egg-zactly!
Thanks!
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Cornell’s All About Birds says they usually adopt a nest that was built by another species – usually Red-tailed Hawks, other hawk species, crows, ravens, herons, or squirrels.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/lifehistory
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There’s perhaps room for two. Lovely to see the chick. Hope it grows up to be like its mamma.
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I wonder if there were two. The shape/size of the head looks different, but that could just be the angle. Cornell’s All About Birds says they can have a clutch of 1-4 eggs.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/lifehistory
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There might well have been. Unless the kite got one.
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I saw a bird I haven’t seen before in my yard during the first day of spring – in the day long rain –
A Brown Thrasher – but I didn’t see any nest. It would be nice if he or she stayed around.
Lucky you to see the owl and the nestling!
I’m Still Looking High and Low for the Lamb
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I’ve seen one of those! I didn’t know what it was. I think that was the first time I had seen one.
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I saw a brown thrasher in my back yard and had to look it up. I’d never seen one before either. (K)
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We can hear owls so we know they are around, but I haven’t seen one yet. What great photos! (K)
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Thanks!
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Wonderful photos, Ken! Hope you can keep track of them as they grow and fledge.
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Thank you, Betty.
That would be nice.
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I got stuck to read this again and again. Chick is belong to who, and who’s nest then who is raising! I hope I understood it. Brilliant informative.
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Thank you. 🙂
Except for a resemblance in the eyes, the chick almost looks like a child’s toy.
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