Great Horned Owls Begin Nesting

     Last year, I did a few posts about a family of great horned owls living in the Pine Grove. I was told about the location of the two fledgling's roosting area very late in the breeding season, only after they had fledged, and the one who told me about it did not know where the nest's location either. That year, I completely focused on photographing the fledglings. Some of those photos are in Fledglings In May, and Fledglings In June. Those two fledglings became independent and left their parents around a week after the June post.

This year, in late February, I started checking the area that I had photographed the fledglings in for signs of nesting. That area was a small section of the woods where all of the pine trees were dead. Probably the result of fire. Not only could I not find a nest anywhere nearby the dead area, but I also couldn't find any sign of the parents. I had no problem finding the two adult owls in January, and earlier in February, but the parents had almost seemed to disappear, now that it's getting to be that time of year when great horned owls lay their eggs and start incubating. I had to be looking in the wrong area. I looked around that forest a few more times that week and found nothing.

There was only one area that I had not checked. One strip of pine trees that followed the aqueduct, much further west than their original location. I checked it immediately after hearing that a friend had seen both owls in that section. It was late morning on February 27th, which was a snow day, so I had the day off. Snow was still falling when I arrived, meaning any owl pellets, or whitewash that I normally would use to track owls was covered up. I walked about 100 feet checking every tree for the silhouette of a perched owl. I quickly found one, perched in the exact area the friend has described.

...The following morning, I found the same owl again. It was perched in a different tree, only a few yards from the first one. Sound asleep.

After talking to a few other wildlife photographers, I was pretty sure that this was the male, and the female was nearby, incubating her eggs on the nest. Wherever it was. That afternoon, I got a message from my friend Etienne who was also searching for the nest. He had found the owl's nest. I immediately went to the Pine Grove. After really looking closely at the tree, I noticed a bundle of sticks with two ear tufts poking up. The female was incubating her eggs. Finally, I got photos of the family's nest...

Etienne then showed up with his camera, and the rest we photographed together.

We stayed there for a while, as it got dark. The male, who was still in the same tree he was perched in all morning, started hopping branch to branch and flying around as it got later. He stopped for a few minutes to cough up a pellet...

He also began hooting, trying to coax the female into hunting with him now that the sun was down.

...The female didn't react. She can only leave the nest for short periods of time or the eggs will get too cold. Only female great horned owls brood because they have have a featherless patch on their bellies, helping conduct heat into the eggs, which the male does not have. Even though it was a warm night (in the 60s), the female did not take a break.

Eventually, he must have gotten too hungry to wait around, because when his mate stayed put, and didn't respond to his calls, he flapped off into a nearby neiborhood. Hunting for himself and his lady. I'll post again when I notice any changes, or when the owlets become visible.

UPDATE:

After following this pair for about another 3 weeks, A friend found a dying owlet at the base of the nesting tree. Nobody knows what happened, but the parents seemed to have given up nesting for the year. Hoping for some chicks again in 2024!