The Great (Horned Owl) Date

A Great Horned Owl nest has been outside my office since February. I have been fortunate enough to watch the young owl grow and start exploring the tree in which he was born.  My co-workers and I affectionately call the young owl Junior. After several weeks, he took flight, and I didn't see him anymore. Until one morning, when I was walking around the entire Research Park to see if I could find him. 

For Amanda's birthday date on Saturday, she wanted to see some owls. She knew I had recently found the mother/child pair again after they left the nesting site. There was no guarantee that mother and Junior would be there, but there was a good chance. We parked close to where I had seen them last, I instructed Amanda as to what tree they were in, and we entered the trees by the building. Immediately we heard branches adjust after losing the weight of an owl and mother flew out of the tree directly in front of us (not what I'd expected). Fortunately she flew away from where we were coming in, and not towards us. She then flew over us and up into high branches of the tree Junior flew into the day before.  

We watched mother for a few minutes as I looked in some spots I'd seen Junior before with no luck finding him. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement in another tree and Junior popped out to see what was going on. As we watched him watch us, a gang of corvids, including a couple magpies and crows, started harassing Junior, swooping in close to his roost. He became more interested in them than he was in us, and eventually flew into a different tree to presumably get away from them, though I think the new spot made him an easier target. Maybe they were his friends and they wanted him to come play.

At this point we continued on our journey to a pond to find Yellow-headed Blackbirds and maybe an owl, to no avail - no YHBL or GHOW. We decided on one more stop before heading out to dinner. We visited the place I'd seen many owls before, sometimes several at the same visit (three or four). Searching the places I'd seen owls before, we searched high for birds, and low for signs finding lots of old pellets and poop, but no birds. It was getting late, and we were getting hungry. Our decision was to head back to the car, get some food, and have a picnic dinner at the University of Idaho Arboretum in hopes of spotting a third owl.  

Walking down the path, we continued scouring each tree in hopes of spotting an owl on our way out. I called it a bust, and decided to walk a different path back to the car when Amanda called out, "There is an owl, a Great Horned owl, RIGHT THERE!" I was afraid I'd missed it, but there it was - perched next to the trunk, 20 feet up the tree. We wandered a bit closer and he sat there trying to determine if he could pick off the bigger one or would have to settle for the little one. He was much greyer than previous owls I'd seen and blended in quite well with the tree where he chose to roost. Amanda sat and got comfortable to watch him, and I continued through the line of trees to see if there were any more owls visible.

By the time Amanda caught up to me, I had seen a total of no more owls, but I had seen a couple of nests that could have supported them. We stood there trying to decide if we should continue on to the end of the path, or go back to the car. "How much further?" Amanda asked. "It's not too far," I replied, and we decided to hike down to a sign post about 100 yards away. As we walked, Amanda had an internal monologue about an owl shaped dark area on the ground, trying to determine if she should mention it to me or not. She eventually decided to mention it in case it was an owl. She didn't want to have to say, "I THOUGHT that was an owl," and have me not believe her. It turns out it was, since logs don't tend to turn their heads and fly up into trees.

Four! That was four owls, counting mama and Junior. What a great day! We were afraid she was on the ground because a young owl was near her, but that was not the case. We saw how much more brown/red she was than the previous one we saw here. As I was photographing her, she reacted to movement and Amanda and I turned around to see the owl from the beginning of this side trip, swoop in clicking its beak at us. Ok, we're in a bad spot. This must be their home and they aren't used to us. Just before wandering off, I looked into the next line of trees on the left and spotted a baby owl. That's five! We attempted to get a little closer but papa came sweeping through again, clicking loudly, so we said our farewells and got out of there.

As we walked back, Amanda was hoping that owl three, the one at the beginning of this side trip, was still there. I was skeptical, but also though that would be cool. We would look back periodically to make sure mama and papa weren't swooping in to get us. "It's there!" Amanda called out. Owl number three was indeed still there. Since that was the case, we realized owl 5 was actually owl 6, and what we thought was owl 3 swooping in was actually owl 5. WHAT?!?!?! Six owls? Now for some, this may be no big deal, but I was pretty stoked.

To say the least, I have been on an owl high for the last 13 hours. And as Amanda said, "Forever after, this SIX OWL date will be a high standard to ever meet again!!"     

First owl of the night seen. She didn't want to be seen.

Number 2. Junior

Number 3. Beautiful grey guy.

Number 4 was originally spotted on the ground, but flew up to this tree.

Number 5 swooped in and out so quickly I never captured a good shot.

Number 6 was the reason number 5 swooped in so close.