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).
