Bird of the Week – Great Horned Owlet
The owls are branching.
They aren’t capable of real flight yet. But they have moved away from the nest, still dependent on their parents for food. Among owls, at least the technical term for this phase of development is “branching.”
Great Horned Owlet
If you find an owlet in the woods, even on the ground, it isn’t “lost” or “orphaned,” and hasn’t fallen out of its nest. It’s branched. Its parents are nearby. It doesn’t need rescuing. It needs to be left alone.
Technical stuff: f9.0, 1/30, ISO800, handheld (the image stabilization on the Canon 1D-X is very good).
More bird photos at Frozen Feather Images.
What a handsome wee beastie.
My dear old daddy tells a story about talking with a great horned late one night when he was just a boy…
and Mikey, Jean Craighead George has half a shelf to herself in my high school library, still helping students through their adolescent years with Wildlife and Nature
TCW-you have been silent for a long,long time. Hope all is well with you and yours and the forest. Glad you are back!!
Thank you, dear ones.
I’ve been under the weather after a brutal final quarter at school
and battling a massive infection after what should have been 2 simple fillings.
meh
on the mend, but not the summer I dreamed of…yet
L’Shalom,
thatcrowwoman
Here’s to the summer of your dreams coming your way soon !
Rest and heal, dear TCW. You are very much missed here.
TCW! I’ve had you on my mind so often lately! Miss you!
I’ve never gotten to see an owl real live- of any kind- outside a zoo.
I have heard a few but not seen them.
This owlet is beautiful. Thank you WC.
TCW — like mike in iowa and Alaska Pi, I’ve missed hearing you, greatly.
…and was just two days ago thinking about you and wondering how you were doing. We had a glorious mini-murder of crows visiting our yard. beth.
http://tinyurl.com/m5dwjz3
Curiosity got the better of me since I wasn’t aware that Jean George’s maiden name was Craighead(until yesterday). I remember two brothers named Craighead that devoted much of their lives to grizzly bear research and found this article from 2007. Wouldn’t you know it,these lads are/were brothers to Jean George. Twins named Frank and John. Biology and journalistic abilities must have run rampant in that family.
Mikey – I loved that book! I’m hoping to be a river otter in my next life. Drop by the brook anytime.
Mag,my heart is absolutely soaring. You are commenting more frequently and that is a huge hell yeah! thatcrowwoman is back and that is another huge hell yeah! This weekend has been unusually active on the Mudflats and that is another huge hell yeah! and I hope it all continues because it makes mikey extremely joyful-like an overdue family reunion.Hell Yeah!!!
Hell Yeah!!! beth.
Owls are so amazing. When I was a teen, I knew a couple who lived in SoHo (not London, the NYC neighborhood) in a huge (formerly industrial) loft. Among the exotic critters who shared their loft was a barn owl who lived in the rafters. That loft, as you could imagine, was entirely rodent free.
Beautiful photo as always, WC. And I didn’t know about branching; now I do.
Bubo by Jan L and Jean George, authors of wildlife books that helped me through adolescent years. I will be a Great Horned Owl in my next life-done deal.
Much too late to apologize to the authors for getting John,Georges name wrong,again.. I would have to apologize posthumously and I expect they reside in a place I don’t plan to get close to. Nevertheless,they are still some of my favorite books and writers from days gone by. RIP.
and today (July 2) would have been Jean’s birthday…
from her website:
http://www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com/sas.html
old photos and other audio-visual treasures
l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation