The Owlery
The continuing story of a family of Great Horned Owls - by Dave Brooks
Book Eight
Book Eight follows the behavior of the two young owls of 2020 as they grow and thrive in their home woodlands.
May 23rd, 2020, 9:44am - On a fine sunny morning I discovered this young owl perched in pleasant reverie, enjoying the wonderful weather and just being an owl.
May 23rd, 2020, 9:47:18am - A few minutes later I notice the mother owl on guard duty nearby with one of her brood stretched out prone on this friendly branch. I had never seen this before.
May 23rd, 2020, 9:50:40am - This young owl went through quite an array of grooming contortions over several minutes during which I took a few hundred exposures in anticipation of catching something very unique. But nothing too dramatic happened and then he finally started to settle onto the branch…
May 23rd, 2020, 9:50:58am - …started to settle, but not just yet…
May 23rd, 2020, 9:51:06am - …and this unsettled settling continued as I fired away…
May 23rd, 2020, 9:51:58am - …I was even regaled with a blank stare and the look of heavy eyelids…
May 23rd, 2020, 9:52:43am - …very heavy eyelids…
May 23rd, 2020, 9:55:11am - …and finally, asleep…
May 23rd, 2020, 9:55:11am - ..are those eyes all the way closed?
May 23rd, 2020, 9:55:17am - Well, not anymore. But they soon closed again and he slumbered peacefully for several minutes in apparent comfort in this posture that seemed to have been used before. After editing these photos I did some searching about owl sleep postures and I found that it is fairly common for very young nestling owlets to sometimes sleep face down in the nest or in captive quarters, I found nothing about older owls displaying this behavior. I also searched for images of young owls sleeping on branches and I found no photographic record of any wild owl behaving this way. There may be images that I did not come across but for now I’ll consider this unique and I invite anyone that knows otherwise to contact me as I would be very interested in seeing more.
May 30th, 2020, 4:12pm - Here we have moved on and this photo shows very well the developing plumage of these young Great Horned Owls. The mature plumage of the chest along with their horns are some of the last feathers to develop into the full and bold appearance of adult Great Horned Owls.
May 30th, 2020, 4:12pm - Posing gracefully to my lasting pleasure.
May 30th, 2020, 4:13pm - Fine young owls indeed.
June 7th, 2020, 8:46am - One week later I am gifted this dramatic pose and I am able to get good focus and exposure in this shaded setting.
June 7th, 2020, 8:46am - A few seconds later and the sun returns to enhance the portrait quite nicely.
June 21st, 2020, 9:10am - An owl’s life is not all glamour and flashy stuff, sometimes they just get sleepy and look a little goofy, but don’t we all.
June 21st, 2020, 9:10am - I just really like this sleepy-eye series.
June 21st, 2020, 9:10am - Following this, I captured no more images of these young owls of this year, but I have seen them and heard them in the twilight now and then as they make their way through my neighborhood on their nightly hunting forays.
This concludes Book Eight, showing a small part of the story of this family of Great Horned Owls of the year 2020. Let’s hope that next year brings good fortune to us all, keeping in mind that good actions foster good fortune.
Dave Brooks