Happy May Day!

Enjoy a virtual birding trip taken this morning in the Boreal Forest of northern Minnesota with your host, Rich Hoeg (author of this blog).  In this trip we examine some bird feeders ripped down by a bear, visit a waterfall, and say good morning to a Great Horned Owlet getting rudely awaken by some local crows. Enjoy!

This image was taken three nights ago of the twin Great Horned Owl chicks.

Virtual Birding with Rich! (video link for email subscribers)

There are special moments in life. Yesterday evening was one of those precious times for me. Just before sunset I watched both Great Horned Owl chicks take their first flights!

I have been watching the evolving story of Amy and Les (Ma and Pa) plus their kids … Dee and Dum since early February. This photograph was taken approximately two hours before the owlets’ first flights.

First Flights … The Video (link for blog email subscribers)

I think this little guy may have died of hypothermia the night before last during the cold downpour. For the last week this owlet always sat by itself on a different branch about ten yards distant from its siblings, and was not sharing any body heat. The temperature was in the low 30’s with a strong wind off Lake Superior … not a good combination when combined with being soaking wet. I took this photo four days ago in much nicer weather.

While it is remotely possibly that this chick may have taken its first flight and I just can not find the owl, normally during the first week of flight for Great Horned Owls chicks fly only a matter of yards. At night the young owls will almost always be with its siblings if for no other reason food gets delivered by Mom and Dad. I have hiked over to the nesting area five times in the past two days (including sunrise and sunset), and have explored many, many trees in the intermediate area with my binoculars (and the ground including hollow logs in case the owlet had fallen out of the nest). I hope I am wrong, but fear I am not. With the wet weather the two remaining siblings are always sitting up against one another.