Hoot and her Two Owlets (Great Horned Owls) 04-04-21

If you like watching Great Horned Owlets…you’ll like this video :)

On Sunday, 04-04-21, I spent three hours and fifteen minutes from 1630 to 1945 hrs watching Hoot, the female Great Horned Owl, and her two owlets. The last time I sat out with her for a few hours was on 03-31-21. The the owlets keep getting bigger every day.

I’m always fascinated while sitting out watching the behaviors that take place on the nest. This video is no different, but the owlets are so much bigger so its easier to see them interact with mom/Hoot and doing their own thing. Hoot has always been so gentle with them and there are a couple tender moments in this video.

Hoot was sitting/standing facing away from me when I got to the nest. I could see one of the owlets on her right side, but the other one was more in front of her so I could only catch a glimpse of it every once in a while until Hoot left the nest at 1916 hrs. The younger/smaller owlet is the one that seems to always be looking at me.

It was a warm day on the nest with the temperatures in the mid 70’s, so the owls were doing some gular fluttering to stay cool until the temperatures dropped lower.

It was a quiet time on the nest. It didn’t appear that Hoot fed the owlets before flying off the nest this time. The last three times i sat out she spent a half hour each time feeding the owlets before flying off the nest. I also didn’t hear Give a Hoot calling when I played the video clips. Sometimes I can’t hear him calling when I’m sitting out, but my microphone will pick him up in the distance.   

The only real excitement was while I was sitting out photographing was when two Mallard ducks come crashing through the woods and went to the ground. The male was no more than 10 yards from me when it immediately took off flying directly toward me only a couple feet, if that, above me and my camera and tripod. I actually thought it was going to take out my camera. Even Hoot flinched and was wondering what was going on! The female Mallard kept walking around behind me until it eventually flew off. While it was on the ground Hoot would keep turning her head around to watch it.