Category Archives: Year 7

Six Months with Hoot and Family!

Year 7

Yup … today is July 1st, and as of this morning I have now been privileged to watch Hoot and her Great Horned Owl family during six different months. I first spied “Mom” on the nest back on February 8th. Thus, while not yet six months in total duration … in six different months. Investing the time during the the dark cold nights of January when I hiked through knee deep snow triangulating their nest has really paid off. It has been a treat.

These first set of images were taken last night. I am becoming convinced that “the duo” which I often seen together are “boys”. These two owls are slightly smaller (indicative of male Great Horned Owls), and rarely hang out with Hoot … the biggest of the triplets, which should indicate a female owl.

June 30th … Sunset with the Guys!

Movies! (video links for email subscribers: one | two)

July 1st … Sunrise with Hoot! (watching crows in second image)

Massacre by Merlin

Year 7

It’s a rough time to be a young bird in my yard at the northern edge of Duluth. Yesterday morning at 6 am, when I heard the Robins chirping in alarm, I discovered one of my Great Horned Owls had captured a robin for breakfast. This afternoon a Merlin was eating Grackle.

While the owls have fledged, I did not realize I had a Merlin nest in the vicinity. Once the youngsters start begging, the location of the nest will become obvious (at least to me).

Massacre by Merlin (a Northwoods falcon)

I have occasionally noted in this blog that I speak bird. Listen to the Robins chirping in alarm in this video … and remember. They will let you know when raptors are near by.

Merlin the Movie (video link for email subscribers)

An Evening with Hoot!

Year 7

I spent a half hour with Hoot yesterday evening, one of the Amity Great Horned Owl triplets. It is a ten minute hike from my house to the “owling grounds” When I first arrived at 7:30 pm, after 15 minutes of searching this was my first view. Some robins has alerted me where to look, and even then it took a while …

I then waited till Hoot fell asleep, and moved to a spot where I could see Hoot without any branches in the way. My short hike of fifteen yards took ten minutes. When I say I moved slowly, I mean painfully slow … making certain I did not step on any twigs or branches … I am not kidding. My diligence was rewarded! Hoot let me watch it for over 30 minutes as it woke up and prepared for the evening hunt. Finally, once again very slowly, I backed away from the owl. Hoot never spooked.

As I left, Hoot seemed to be laughing at me … almost to be saying … “Boy do I have a surprise for you!”.

Yes … the joke was on me. While I was hiking to my owling grounds and painfully slowly inching into position through waist high undergrowth (definitely off trail), one of Hoots siblings had decided to move into my yard! When I return home to my yard, I noticed two robins chirping their “alert” sound. I now know why the number of squirrels at my bird feeders have dropped dramatically over the past few days. One of the Amity Great Horned Owl triplets has decided I have a nice yard. I saw it again at 6:00 am this morning till some crows chased it away.

Finally here is a short video I made of my evening with Hoot. Enjoy! (video link for email subscribers)