It’s been four days since I’ve filed a Great Horned Owl triplet report. First, the basics … everyone is doing fine. I suspect we are seven days away from the first short hopping flights. At this stage, we have entered a point in the young owl’s lives called branching. This is an official term, not one I created. For young owls, branching is the period when they are not able to fly, but are able to walk around their nesting tree … onto different branches. Their talons are well developed which gives the young owls plenty of grip strength.

Here is a photograph and two videos which demonstrates branching. The actual nest has now been destroyed by the owlets (not on purpose), and the chicks were greeting the early morning sun a bit after sunrise. Today’s temperature is hanging out in the high 30’s, with a stiff NE wind off Lake Superior. Thus, the use of branching to get morning sun was appreciated by everyone.

Early this morning just after sunrise … Branching

A video taken at the same time this morning (video link for email subscribers)

A Great Horned Owl chick setting off on a walk! (video link for email subscribers)

Now it’s time just for fun photos! These images are a few of my favorites taken over the past four days

Seen from on high! (I am lying on the ground starting straight up about 40 feet)

Six Eyes!

Enjoying the morning sun!

The triplets go through an amazing amount of food, which keeps both parents very busy hunting. The two main items on the menu seem to be rabbits and crows.

Eating rabbit

Rabbit, not just for breakfast anymore (video link for email subscribers)

Thus, as you can see, the Great Horned Owl chicks are doing fine. I am generally visit the nest at dawn and dusk, weather permitting (i.e. I am a fair weather birder!)

Do you ever have a sneaking suspicion when hiking through the forest there are eyes upon you? Perhaps six eyes?! It’s more than a suspicion for me!

Recently the triplets have started throwing food at me … LOL! When I walk over at sunrise there is often evidence of the previous night’s menu! If you were a baby owl, I guess you might be unhappy if Mom dared to serve the “back end” of a rabbit for supper!

In the past few days I have found two dead rats (one whole, one half), decapitated robins and crows, the hind quarter and talon of what I believe to be a Northern Harrier … all immediately underneath the nest. By the next morning all these rejects are gone. Given the frequent fox tracks I find at the base of the nest tree, I suspect someone is stopping by for “take-out” every night. Regardless, Miss Manners would not approve of the table manners of the Great Horned Owl chicks!

One more pic … I rarely see all three triplets. It is amazing how such large owlets can hide behind tree boughs.

Before Netflix. Before Hulu … and even before Amazon Prime there was Friday Night at the Movies. Youngsters will not remember the days when the family gathered around the TV and watched the one movie available via commercial “over the air” television station. Here is Duluth, Minnesota in the early 1960’s we had two options … NBC and CBS.

Thus … back to a simpler time. Here are some “stills” of the actors and actresses … the Great Horned Owl Triplets.

And the promised movies!

The Triplets a bit before sunset yesterday evening (email subscriber video link)

Sunrise crow attack … Mom & Dad will save me! (email subscriber video link)

Okay … maximize this image and count the owls. How many can you find? Only Dad is missing. The answer is four!

Finally, a few other birds are returning to the Northland. Two days ago I saw my first Red-Winged Blackbirds at a neighborhood pond. However, there is still snow in the woods (not much).