I need names for the Amity Great Horned Owl Triplets. I am working upon my fourth children’s book (first two books in collaboration with Susan Larson-Kidd). After two years of watching Ma and Pa Owl raise first twins and now triplets near my Amity Creek home, my latest children’s book is beginning to come together.
It will be the story of the youngest owl triplet (name not yet known) growing up in the Boreal Forest. Although the majority of this children’s book will be about the owl family, the reader will also be introduced to other animals and birds as they grow up in the forest. For instance you will meet the Fox kits!
Do You Hoot?
Add a comment to this post with your suggested name for the youngest owl and his two siblings. The winner will receive free copies of my two latest books: Snowy’s Search for Color and … when published … Do You Hoot?
Okay … there have been early migrants for the past month, but things really kicked in over the past few days with a combination of a wind out of the south and some very needed rain. Thus, at 5:50 am I was out the door … wearing shorts (47F) … and looking forward for a great morning of birding. Nature did not disappoint.
My first stop was to visit my owls. As they were hiding, and the crows were silent, I decided I would find my friends later in the day and thus headed for Lake Superior and the St. Louis River. While hiking Mud Lake I hit pay dirt. For years I have listened to Sora, but never been able to get much of a view. These birds hide out in deep marsh rushes. Finally, this morning an individual was a bit out in the open.
My first Sora photograph!
Mud Lake continued to be a great birding spot. At one point I almost stepped upon an American Bittern. I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or the bird. In addition I saw a nice flight of Yellow Warblers fly through the area.
After Mud Lake I drove over to the Western Waterfront Trail for a hike along the river. Right away I heard my first Baltimore Oriole of the year, and when I returned later (round trip hike) I was able to find the oriole out in the open and amenable to having its photo taken.
While I rarely take photos of Canada Geese, these Goslings were only a day or two old … quite cute.
Finally, I promised some images from my last visit with the Great Horned Owl family (Wednesday morning). Now that I am home from the cabin, and have a high speed web connection … voila.
Oh wait … before the owl pics, I also had another lifer yesterday afternoon at the cabin. A migrating Foster’s Tern stopped upon a nearby buoy.
Great Horned Owl Family
At sunrise … final image … everyone is asleep and ignoring me!
Mid Morning Wake-Up
Mid Morning Grooming
Even with four birding stops, I was home by 9:30 this morning. It helps when one leaves before 6 am!
Here I am … a hard working photographer out at sunrise, and some “reject” insists on photo bombing my work!
Greater Scaup / Blue Bill … with some unknown joker in the foreground.
This was actually my third birding stop of the morning. I left the house at 5:40 am for the short hike to my “owling grounds”. Sunrise here in Northeastern Minnesota was 5:37 am this morning. If a person wants to see other than sleeping owls, you need to be out with the sun. By the time I arrived at the nesting area (5:50 am), the sun was just starting the kiss the tops of the taller white pines. Today I will feature Ma and Pa Great Horned Owl. For the next twenty minutes after I arrived this duo put on a great display for me. Actually, they actively attacked and defended their owlets against the sunrise crow attack. However, by 6:20 everything had settled down … the crows had departed and owls were starting to snooze.
Given how deep the parents perch within white pines, I can only surmise that the youngsters don’t have the same “warming effect” yet from their feathers. At sunrsie the triplets (yes … in fact all three owl chicks survived!) are always out in the open to catch the warming rays of the sun. It was 39F at sunrise this morning. The owlets don’t tend to perch in deeper cover till much later in the morning. Obviously this makes them easy targets for crows which is why the parents are always on the lookout.
Ma Great Horned Owl (truly the first golden light of the morning)
Pa Great Horned Owl
Ma and Pa in a White Pine (click upon to view full sized … both parent owls are present … this pair is very difficult to find once they embed themselves in deep cover … move one foot in either direction and the parents disappear from view)
One of the Owlets (much later in the morning)
Finally I hiked the five ponds at the Lester Golf Course. I keep hoping to see some warblers, but new arriving migrants were few and far between … just the tree swallows pairing up to raise some new families.
