As much as I wish the story behind this photo was a happy one, it is not.
I was wrapping up one of my photo excursions last week when my brother texted about a great horned owl hanging out in one of his trees. That was too good of an opportunity to pass up so I headed right over. It was beautiful just sitting there, seeming to sleep off a night of hunting. As it wasn’t ‘doing’ anything exciting beyond sleeping, I moved on.
Ten minutes later my brother texted again. The owl was on the ground. Knowing that wasn’t normal, I went back.
It was clear something was wrong and soon it stopped moving. I immediately started making phone calls (thank you, Lori for the help!) and Colorado Parks and Wildlife came by not long after. Sadly, the owl had perished.
Testing has shown it didn’t have HPAI (bird flu) so that is good. No necropsy was done.
Oftentimes I see harsh, sad things happening in Mother Nature and it can be hard to see happen but, as they say, that is nature taking its course. In this case, I like to think the owl simply had lived a full, good life and its time had come.
