Great Horned Owl (male)

 

"Give a Hoot"...male Great Horned Owl

 

Today, 02-22-21, I went looking for the owls after staying away from the area over the week-end. I found the male Great Horned Owl, “Give a Hoot”, not far from where I found him a few days ago. 

 

I saw him in the distance perched in a large oak tree after I walked around another large oak tree. I immediately stopped and slowly walked backwards to place the oak tree in between me and “Give a Hoot” so I could get out my camera gear from my backpack without him actually seeing what I was doing. He certainly knew I was there, so I’m surprised he stuck around. 

 

When I had just about everything ready to go I slowly walked back toward him keeping the oak tree between us. I was able to set up the tripod with my camera to get some photos. I even lowered the tripod a couple feet in an attempted to remove the branch from the top of his head. These were the best pictures I could get today. Once I had enough pictures of him with the branch obstructing his feather tuffs I tried moving to a better location, but “Give a Hoot” wasn’t going to have any of that nonsense…off he went!

 

I feel I’m making progress with him. The last two times he’s stuck around long enough for me to get my camera gear set up for a couple shots. Maybe next time there won’t be any branches blocking his face/head.