This is not a photograph to brag about but it is one that still made my day. Joan and I went on a little “spotting tour” after work today. With daylight saving time in place now the evenings are longer and allow more outdoor activities. The snow is melting rapidly and it felt nicely having temperatures above freezing.
Within an hour we saw several Bald Eagles, an American Kestrel, some other raptor that we couldn’t identify, thousands of starlings, and we heard and saw the first Red-winged Blackbird! Hey, spring is finally coming!! ;-) We made the final stop at Mud Lake, down at the Mississippi River. And there it was, a Great Horned Owl was sitting in the old eagle’s nest, the same place as last year. She didn’t move much and we were wondering if she was still sitting on the eggs. I reported several times last spring here in the blog about one young bird, and hopefully we will see at least another one or more this year. Making photos from the owl in the nest isn’t easy because the nest is quite high up in the tree. The image below was made after the owlet had left the nest. They climb on nearby branches and trees after 6-7 weeks and start flying after 10 weeks.
