As I was wrapping up my morning at my favorite bald eagle nest, I swung by this great horned owl nest. There, I saw mama and shot a couple quick shots of her. As I was shooting into the sun and she was pretty well buried, I knew any pics wouldn’t be all that great so I moved on quickly.

Much to my surprise, when I got home and processed the pictures, I spotted an extra set of eyes looking at me! The first owlet of the season for me.

This owl nest is extremely close to the bald eagle nest which is kind of unusual. I have seen video of owls attacking eagle nests at night so I just hope these guys leave the eagles alone.

We have been hearing a pair of great horned owls in our neighborhood for weeks. Only twice have I gotten a shadowy glimpse of them.

Recently, leaving the house for an early morning photo drive I spotted an owl perfectly perched on the corner of a house up the street. Finally my chance and I was excited!

I kept going a ways so as not to scare it off, quietly turned around, unpacked my camera and got ready to capture pics of this awesome bird. Once I had a clear view, I aimed, focused and fired off a bunch of shots. Umm. Yeah. Not quite what I was thinking it was. 😀

It has been a while since I have seen the owls at this particular spot in suburbia but I figured it would happen any day now. I assume this is the male and that the female is in the nest behind him.

This is not an easy spot to photograph so I rarely do as the nest is 40+ feet up in a very busy tree with few clear spots to get pictures. This morning as I was wrapping up my photo drive I happened to spot his silhouette so of course had to stop.

He wasn’t too concerned about having been seen though as he only managed to barely crack his eyes open to look at me.

This was a pleasant surprise. I was running errands after work yesterday and spotted a couple of bald eagles. Naturally I had to follow and try to get pictures. I ended up losing track of them somewhere over an area open space.

Rather than pack it in, I decided to go for a walk through the area as I have seen some cool things there and wanted to try to clear my head. In a stand of trees, I spotted a great horned owl. This isn’t unusual as I have seen them there before however I have never found any sort of a nest.

Since I wasn’t in any rush, I took the time to go tree by tree, trying to see if I could find their home. Sure enough, after about 20 minutes I spotted it, in a broken off tree about 15 feet above the ground. Best of all, there she was, mama hunkered down and likely laying on eggs.

One pic shows dad when I spotted him, the other mom in the nest cavity. Should the nest be successful and young ones emerge in a couple months, this will be an awesome photo spot. This is the start of nesting season so I will definitely be on the lookout for more.

Well, this isn’t something you see very often. This handsome great horned owl was sitting on top of a broken off tree, entirely out in the open this past weekend.

This is not normal behavior however, it became pretty apparent what may have been the cause. A crow was nearby, making a huge ruckus at the owl – that is where the owl’s attention is focused. I suspect the owl was originally hidden but the crow discovered it and chased it out.

The encounter was fleeting as the owl soon fled back into a thick stand of trees, undoubtedly to try to escape its tormentor.

Deciding to stick close to home for my photo drive last Sunday, I headed to a local open space where I know a pair of great horned owls hangs out.

I was only able to find one of the two and it was well-buried, hiding in a busy tree. As I tried to find a somewhat clear angle to get some pictures, someone with an off-leash dog came by. The hound bounded right up to the owl’s tree, which, of course, did not make the owl happy.

It flew off, deciding it needed to find a quieter place to rest for the day. Here, it is seen at its initial landing spot, giving a nice look at it and showcasing those awesome yellow eyes.

For the past two months, we have been hearing at least two great horned owls calling to each other near our house. Usually we begin to hear them right after sunset while I am out grilling up dinner (yes, we are some of those crazy Coloradoans that barbeque in the freezing cold and snow – haha).

I had looked many times and stood out there in the dark but had not seen them – until this week. Now, three nights in a row I have spotted one of them in a neighbor’s tree, calling out to its potential mate.

As you can see, this was after sunset but the shadowy form kind of makes for cool images. Now is the time of year when these guys start pairing up, setting the stage for the spring babies. I drove around last night, hoping to find a nest but didn’t have any luck but will keep trying.

The trees have eyes! Four of them in fact. 😉 

It’s been quite a while since I have visited this pair of great horned owls. During the winter, they oftentimes spend the daytime roosted in a lone tree kind of out in the middle of nowhere. Given the location, they aren’t too comfortable with human visitors but on Thursday, they actually let me get some decent captures.

The tree is very busy and has dead leaves lingering so there is no hope of a clear shot of them but it made for a fun shot and getting both in the same frame, facing the same direction while looking at me was a bonus.

In hiking out to them, I did also get a refresher on how thin ice usually is here in Colorado and how you really shouldn’t step on it. Seems like that is a lesson I have to learn at least once a year that results in very cold and wet feet.

A bit of a lost gem of a picture I re-discovered this morning. I was trying to pick a picture of these cool raptors to post to Nextdoor as I have been trying in vain to find some great horned owls that have been hooting up a storm at night and thought maybe one of my neighbors might have information as to where they are.

Anyway, as I was looking I came across this image, taken in mid-April last year. This is the female from the coolest great horned owl nest I have ever photographed. She had three owlets and they had grown big enough that she couldn’t really sit in the nest anymore.

Oftentimes she would perch in a pine tree across the trail and keep close watch on them. On this evening, the setting sun really lit her up beautifully giving me this cool capture. You can check out a pic of the nest and her with two of her three owlets in this image I shared back then here.