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)

Hoot was not overly cooperative this morning. If not for all the grackles and robins making a fuss over its presence, I would never have found the Great Horned Owl. I was standing only 50 yards away from the tree in which the bird was perched, but with all the leaves I needed some assistance. After taking a few photographs I hiked home to have some breakfast with my grandchildren. Eventually after a respite of about 90 minutes I hiked once more over to the “owling grounds”. Neither of the two owls I have found earlier this morning had moved an inch. I came home.

Hiding Hoot!

I have no idea what was up in the sky, but Hoot definitely saw something yesterday morning, perhaps Superman! I looked up for a long time but saw nothing.

It has been fun having refound my Great Horned Owl family, including Hoot. This morning I watched two of the triplets hunt robins and grackles at 6:30 am. The little guys (not so little anymore) are learning how to hunt. Mom and Dad are still delivering food. Until I realized how much time my owl friends were spending upon the ground, I missed seeing them many times. Now I know to spread out my search efforts from the ground to the tree tops.

Hoot Sees Something (I did not)

Posing Nicely for Me! (I left Hoot sitting on this perch after 20 minutes)