Great Horned Owls in a Snowstorm

Year 10

These images were taken 18 hours apart …

These first two photos were taken just as our storm was starting up yesterday afternoon.

The final two images of my Great Horned Owl couple were taken around 9 am this morning. Our storm is definitely still in progress … about 10 inches of snow has fallen so far and the winds gusted to 48 mph last night according to the weather service. Neither Momma or Poppa Owl look to happy.

Finally, here is a pic of my own road as I started out on my owl hike this morning. You may notice that there are no car tracks in the road this morning. The snow was falling at a rate of 7/10 of an inch per hour while I was out on my hike.

Great Horned Owls in a Snowstorm

Year 10

There are not one, but two Great Horned Owls in this photograph (press or click upon to maximize)! This afternoon during our snowstorm (8 to 10 inches of white stuff expected by tomorrow morning) I found the nest of my local owls for the 5th year in a row!

These GHO’s make it difficult. I took over 25 hikes after dark over the past month following my local hoot. I was convinced over the past two nights due some “soft quiet warbling hoots” that I was close to finding the nest. This afternoon during our snowstorm I went out hiking during the day, and checked out well over 50 white pines in the forest. Finally I found the male, but it took a trip home to clean up my fogged up glasses and dry off my binoculars before upon my 2nd hike and about another 5 minutes of searching that I found the nest. Given our present snow depth is a couple of feet deep, and I was never on a trail, conditions were not ideal.  Obviously photography conditions were not good, but I am ecstatic. (email subscribers see videos of both the male and female during today’s storm).

Escaping the Desert to Oracle

Year 10

I hope everyone is enjoying this morning’s data dump. I am relaxing back home in Duluth and processing the last of my Tucson area birding excursions. This post reflects a fun birding excursion I took to the town of Oracle, which is 33 miles north of central Tucson. My research prior to our trip south had indicated there were two Lewis Woodpeckers hanging out with the Acorn Woodpeckers in and near the Oracle Town Park (Google Maps Link).

While Oracle may only be 33 miles north of Tucson, given its elevation you escape to the edge of the desert and find yourself surrounded with pine trees. The HUGE pine cones loaded with seeds attract Acorn Woodpeckers (year round residents) and the two Lewis Woodpeckers. Given how Acorn Woodpeckers like to store food (check out each of the million and one holes in the park’s power poles), I wonder if the Lewis Woodpeckers are “stealing” from their cousins. Regardless it was a fun afternoon excursion.

Acorn Woodpecker

Lewis Woodpecker