I'm a sucker for baby animals... and baby birds with all their awkward homeliness have an even bigger place in my heart. There is something so fragile and yet so strong about them.
Momma often has to build her own house, sit on her precious eggs to keep them warm in what is one of the more challenging times of year and then protect these tiny, bald and blind children while still making time for self care - like eating and drinking - if hubby is more of a one-night-stand kinda "bio-dad".
Luckily for great horned owls, the dad is more than just a sperm donor; he can be found feeding his mate as she incubates and is quite good at doing little fly-bys to drop off food that momma feeds herself and the kids with.
Owlets need meat. Not just worms... like rabbit, mouse, frog or prairie dog substantial critters. The survival of these babes is dependent on mom being a good protector, good provider and good teacher too. If they can't hit the ground gently or stick a landing on a nearby branch in short order, they will become the dinner that someone else's mom (or dad) brings back to their growing family.
March 31:
I started regularly visiting a particular nest in east Boulder. Rumour had it that great horned momma had triplets that she was rearing. Cute, downy, grey-beige babies in a grey-beige tree trunk!
They appear to have two modes; Awake and hungry or sleepy and hunkered down to ride out the snow/hail/sleet/wind/rain together.
Mom is an attentive thorough and protective parent who is burning the candle at both ends to make sure all three are thriving. She is BEAUTIFUL!
Dad is a smaller but equally beautiful specimen. He flies under the radar but is a valuable member of the family and they are grateful he is a good provider.
April 5:
This afternoon (for the second time this week) I could have sworn there were 4 babies. Quadruplets! Alas, there is never a single moment where 4 little hook beaks and beady black eyes are visible... and therefore no real evidence/proof of the elusive 4th child!
April 6:
Proof of Life! The pics are not great... but clearly 4 growing owlets are stuffing this nest full of downy cuteness.
I've stepped up my game: Now I drag myself out of bed at 6am to get there before sunrise AND often find myself back there around 6:30pm to witness mom's visits and a time of day that the owlets come alive - Golden Hour!
April 10:
Mom's visits have become less frequent. She sometimes brings in dinner (dead and tempting) but then flies back out with it. The owlets never look hungry, but their bigger bellies allow them to choke down whole rabbits' feet, fur and bones included. They now go longer between meals. Mom is not dissecting red meat from a tender bunny for them anymore. And she is barely feeding them in the light of day.
My new birding friends have been feeding me the goss.... Mom is convincing her babies to start 'branching' out. To jump up on the side of the nest and flex their wings, to observe their greater environment - even if that is only a comical fascination with the flies hanging around the poopy, carcass-contaminated nest.
Time is ticking. A new nocturnal chapter awaits.
Mom still flies in from time to time to check on the kids but she is often (for hours) seen sleeping in a cottonwood tree a hundred yards from the nest. To be fair, the nest is FULL! Four growing owlets are crowded in there... panting in the hot afternoon sun and keeping each other warm and dry on cooler, wetter nights.
She's still doing an outstanding of job keeping them safe and watching them thrive... but she is also aware that fledging is important! The time is coming to cut those apron strings. Unlike human babies, these owls will take a one-way trip from the nest and within a few months their parents will stop giving into their pleas for an easy meal. They will need to hunt and eat alone.
Mom's success - and she appears to be the Grizzly 399 of the great horned owl community in Boulder - is dependent on her kids getting all the head start and fine instruction needed to sustain themselves in the long term.
A bit about my new photography friends... Because they are a highlight for me:
Jane has been coming to watch this owl raise her owlets in this tree trunk for 7 years. She brings a gentle energy and deep appreciation for this opportunity and that is contagious. (Another person told me this owl momma has just celebrated TEN YEARS of successfully rearing her offspring here. No wonder she is such a pro! )
Becky is the glue of my new owlet photography friend group! She has organized a group text thread for sharing bird-status updates and spends hours here with her binoc's and camera. She has caught so many special moments with stills and video and generously shares them.
Matt is here earlier than anyone. In the cold and dark he sits patiently and despite calling himself an amateur, his pictures are world class.
This single owl family and these people are the reason that in 2 weeks, I have learned so much about wildlife photography and improved dramatically. Every day I get the chance to come back and rack my brain for a new composition around the same ol' tree trunk with babies inside. I get to practice as the light fades and shutter speed and ISO climb - with telescopic lens at full range. The family block each other, blink frequently and hardly ever look in the same direction. Mom flies in at a surprisingly high speed and never stays that long. The challenge to shoot a good picture is real, but that is just the beginning. My weakness is post-processing and boy have I had to spend some hours revealing the picture my brain saw but my camera falls short of. Momma owl has also forced me to be a better student of LightRoom!
April 13:
As of this week mom has started putting her kids on a more nocturnal schedule.
She visits quite some time after sunset or before sunrise. Calling gently to them from a nearby perch, dropping food but not "preparing dinner" like she used to. She is coaxing them out of the nest; they are responding by jumping onto the edge of the trunk and practice-flapping. It's only a matter of time now, and I'm getting a little emotional at the thought of finding the nest empty.
So yeah... the kids are cute and endless entertainment. But it's mom, with her stereotypical owl-wisdom, teaching not just owlets, but anyone who rocks up and dares to sit and learn.
April 19:
All that practice paid off! Tonight, under the cover of almost-darkness, owlets Alpha and Beta went from branching, to "flying" from the nest to the side of the tree trunk - about 8'. Then they climbed way up there! Beak, feet and the occasional flutter of wings. It looked scary, exhausting and ... exhilarating!
Mom rewarded them immediately with a little mouse morsel. A picnic on the side of the trunk, if you will.
Within 30 mins, Alpha had responded to his mother's raspy call from the cottonwood back yonder and took flight to join her. There were tears. The inaugral flight was flawless.
Beta opted for a shorter flight to the other nearby tree and was met (congratulated and encouraged) by dad. It wasn't long before Beta also dared to fly into the cottonwood back yonder and reunited with Alpha + Mom. Dad took it upon himself to visit the nest and reassure the remaining owlets that they were ok!
April 20:
Elliot (owlet #3) made it to the upper trunk and assumed his new life there! Hahaha... I say that because for the next 4 nights I would watch him/her fumble their way around the branches, sometimes losing a grip and falling, often getting those giant wings snagged on twigs... never quite ready or trusting enough to use said wings to join mom.
She watched. She called. She is PATIENT and understanding.
She is also teaching and feeding Alpha and Beta. It's more than a full time job.
April 22:
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| George's kindergarten graduation photo! |
George Clooney (owlet #4, named for his dark eyes and more grey than beige appearance) branched. It was far from pretty. The crowd gasped as he gripped a thin branch with one of his impressively taloned feet - and hung upside down like a bat for 5 minutes!
There was no panic in his eyes. As he hung, he processed, regrouped and came up with a plan. Mom, watching calmly from the edge of the nest, let him work it out. And he was still sitting on that branch when I left at 8:30pm - still squawking for dinner!
Elliot, in that tree too, watched George and used his pre-dinner time wisely to stretch and flap and begin to understand the mechanics of wings. My heart was exploding with joy, pride and bittersweetness at the events unfolding.
In the background I saw Alpha or Beta (who knows!?) fly from one giant cottonwood to another. The vision was that of a butterfly-owl type flutter more than that of a silent predator and they certainly did NOT stick the landing, as there was much flapping to be had between the branches before perching was achieved. But it was progress and mom rewarded the progress!
April 23:
I went to the nest tonight, convinced this was the last time I'd be making intense eye contact with one of moms babies. Certain that by tomorrow, all 4 would have started their next chapter... privately learning to maneuver among the leaves, to hunt and fly and make good judgement calls about weather and food and urban hazards. I was wrong.
George and Elliot were still hanging in the next tree! Elliot, after 72 hours there, summoned the courage to flap over to the nearest other tree and was rewarded with a rabbit dinner, delivered lickety-split by mom. She even shredded it into bite-sized pieces and popped it into his mouth - lest he drop it and go hungry. She takes special care of Elliot.
Meanwhile, George took a tumble from the tree and fluttered into the branches/shoots growing from behind the nest. Wedged for a minute, he soon recovered himself.
George is a trooper - he is courageous and bold - his diminutive body hides a much bigger spirit within it. When mom brought the back end of the bunny to him and offered to share it, he snatched it and wouldn't give it back.
After unsuccessfully trying to swallow it whole, he used a big yellow talon to yank it back out before dismembering it and choking down the bits. George is FIERCE!
The last hurrah... April 24:
Just when it looked like flower child Elliot was destined to live in the same tree forever, snacking on leaves and buds, something clicked with him. A storm was coming and nearby thunder, coyote howling plus mom's persistent encouragement led him to the tippy-top of his tree. The wind caught his feathers and he made eye contact with mom in yonder cottonwood. All of a sudden, he just knew what he needed to do. Intention was written all over his face.
Despite a couple of "chickening out" moments, when it finally happened... it was freakin' glorious! To my utter surprise, Elliot was a natural, elegant and competent flier. He flew high to the top of the cottonwood back yonder and stuck the landing!
It wasn't more than 15 minutes later I saw him fly from that cottonwood to the one 25 yards right of it. His siblings, Alpha and Beta, were also practicing back and forth between the trees.
Elliott, from a visible spot far away, called repeatedly to his brother George and George replied every time: "You've got this George" and "Wait for me, Elliot. I'm coming too!" Mom watched silently.
George took his first flight to the tree by the road, climbed that trunk faster than you'd believe possible and launched himself without hesitation from the same place Elliot did at the top. Under the cover of darkness, the 4th Legacy owlet joined his siblings and both parents in the yonder cottonwoods. Elliot stopped crying out. My heart darn near exploded!
This post, epic in length, is not a story of survival as much as beauty, courage and commitment. Tonight marked the end of my view into their world, but it's really just the beginning for these owlets. Life is coming at them at 100mph and they, at 8 weeks old, are rising to the challenge and already incredibly well prepared to begin their next chapter.
So satisfying. And yet... I grieve. There is a hole in my heart the size of 4 owlets that I need to remodel as a new home for all the gratitude I take away, I guess.
