The title of this post says it all … in January. Granted I am south down in the Plymouth, Minnesota area visiting my daughter’s family, but this is the UnWinter. There is zero snow on the ground but finding a Great Horned Owl already incubating eggs on January 28th is exceedingly weird. Our winter up north in Duluth is also extremely mild, but at least there is a few inches of snow on the ground. I had already started taking local “owl hikes” at night as I am convinced if the weather continues with this warm pattern, owls will nest much earlier this year. Last year my own local owls were not on the nest till early April.

Actually, with my tunnel vision focused on the owl, it took several minutes for me to realize this wild turkey was standing only 15 yards away from me. The image shows the total lack of snow.