Too precious to lose

Posted on March 8, 2022 by dinajohnston

The beautiful baby owls at a nearby park. These were all taken in early February. There were 3 babies but at this point there wasn’t a time when they were all together. The youngest still stayed in the nest while the older 2 were starting to venture out on the nearby branches.

These were all taken in mid-February. They were really cruising around the tree.

This was the youngest of the three. He was still staying close to the nest at this point. He still had a lot of fuzzy feathers that didn’t quite have the color in them.

The parents would always be close by in the same tree or a few trees over.

It’s with a super heavy heart that I post this but I wanted you to see how precious these babies are. The oldest baby died earlier this week. He had rat poisoning symptoms and did not survive. Last year we lost 2 of the 3 babies to rat poisoning. Then, just yesterday the Mom was sick and was rescued but did not survive. Again, rat poisoning. Everyone has got to stop using rat poison. These owls eat the rats. You don’t need the poison. Now that’s 2 less owls that will be keeping the rats in check.

Triplets for the Class of 2022.

Posted on March 5, 2022 by dinajohnston

I was keeping an eye on the nearby local owl’s nest in mid-January. I’d stop by when I was out running errands. It was usually easy to spot one of the parents high up in the tree. Mom was always on the nest.

Near the end of January I could see a fuzzy white head on the nest. This was the youngest of three, still looking like an ugly duckling.

One of the other siblings were sitting up and looked much bigger. At this point we thought there might only be 2 babies.

A week later it was confirmed there were 3 babies. All of the babies were still sitting right in the nest so it was hard to see them clearly through all of the moss. More to come on these cuties growing up.

Please don’t use rat poison

Posted on May 22, 2021 by dinajohnston

“What is everone looking at? Wait, I see a rat in the parking lot. Tell Mom to go get it.”

“I am Dracula. I suck the blood of rats”

“Soon I’ll be flying and can go get my own rat.”

“She’s taking my picture. I need to move over here to the best spot.”

Right before dark all three of the babies lined up and I got a shot of them all together. Both parents had just flown away, assuming to go get dinner. Since they are so curious, they were always looking everywhere. It was so amazing seeing these guys growing up. It really is a privilage to have these owls growing up in such a populated area. I didn’t make it back to the nest after this to see them all grown up. Unfortunately no one got to see 2 of them grow up. I just recently found out that 2 of them died from rat poison. The third one survived. Maybe he didn’t get to eat as much of that poisoned rat that the parent brought back. This is what happens when people use rat poison boxes. The rats don’t die right away and the owl grabs it to bring back to the nest. These owls are a natural pest control and the three young ones would have cleaned out most of the area of rats for a while when they first start to hunt.

The owls at Fort Desoto

Posted on May 6, 2021 by dinajohnston

Mom standing watch over her babies.

Meanwhile, the babies are acting cute with those curious eyes. Always looking around at the sounds and birds flying by.

Mom moved over to a tree nearby for a while.

Then back to the nest to sit for while before feeding the kids. You could see both sides of the nest since it sits between a trail through the woods and the beach. We were running back and forth trying to get the best shots while the sun was going in and out. I think this is when I got my poison ivy on my ankles. Not paying attention and running around in the small wooded area where the owls nest. One ankle was pretty bad and my foot was so swollen I couldn’t get a shoe on for almost two weeks. That’ll teach me. After 13 years of doing this I’ve been pretty lucky with not getting it before now. Of course now I’m checking everywhere I step or walk.

The baby should have been excited since he was about to be fed but instead he was yawning. Mom was digging around on the nest for something good she had hidden in there. More to come on what that was.

Owls and inchworms

Posted on April 18, 2020 by dinajohnston

I got to the park right before dark and saw Papa owl flying over to a tall tree along the water. He hung out there for a while, preening and stretching. I guess he had just gotten up from a long afternoon nap. Soon he would be taking off to go get dinner for the nest.

Mom stayed on the tree near the nest. The baby was big enough at this point to sit alone on the nest but Mom always stays close by.

There seemed to be an inchworm infestation at the park. They were dripping from the trees. We were walking around the shelters near the trees and realized that we were covered in them. Although they are harmless it was a little creepy having them in my hair and on my shirt. We were pulling them off each other and then learned to walk around the trees and to keep an eye out for them. This was in February back when we could stand close together.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters.

Hooting at the moon

Posted on March 28, 2020 by dinajohnston

I stopped by a park in mid-February to check on the owls that nest there every year. They had been sitting on eggs for a while but I wasn’t sure of the exact days. No sign of a baby yet but I found both of the parents. Mom was far down in the nest and I could just barely see the tops of her ears. Dad was sitting close by. It was late in the day and he was just waking up from a long nap.

He took off and flew to a tree nearby and was sitting out in the open. He started hooting. I realized that they don’t hoot with their beaks open but the white part of their chest fluffs up from the vibration. It was cool to sit quietly in the woods right before dark and watch him hoot.

I realized the moon was coming up way off across the bay. After a few minutes he took off heading towards the moon.

Mom was still hiding in that big tree as the sun went down.

The Safety Harbor owls were growing up.

Posted on May 21, 2019 by dinajohnston

A rare time seeing both parents sitting together high up in a tree while the babies sit below alone in the nest. Although, at this point the babies are big enough to stay by themselves as long as a parent is close by. We usually only see one parent at a time.

After a while, Mom woke up and flew down to the nest.

She only stayed for a few minutes and then took off across the park while Dad continued to nap high above.

The babies were awake and were very curious looking around at all of the joggers and dog walkers going by.

Then this one sits up, stretches and yawns and then plops down for a nap. Time for me to go home and have lunch

Watching owls grow up.

Posted on April 20, 2019 by dinajohnston

The young great horned owls are very curious at this age. They were making faces at other birds that would fly by the nest.

Mom flew in for a few minutes and then took off.

They started yawning and looked like they were settling in for a long nap.

The view of the nest taken with my phone where we were standing. The nest sits right on a main trail and is very visible when people are walking along the beach.

What owls think

Posted on April 14, 2018 by dinajohnston

“It’s getting close to dinnertime.”

“Does anybody deliver rats?”

“Do you love me Mom?”

“What’s that smell? Are you using deodorant?”

“Mom, scratch my head.”

“Mom, turn around. Everyone wants to take our picture.”

“Why do they think we’re so exciting? We don’t do anything.”

“Really Mom, I’m getting hungry.

“Mom, get that bug off my beak.”

“Is it still there?”

“I guess I’ll go get dinner.”

Babies are getting big

Posted on May 7, 2015 by dinajohnston

Another trip to Fort Desoto to see how big the baby owls had gotten.

They were getting big. The sun wasn’t in my favor this morning. The owls were facing the other way.

They were awake but didn’t move too much. They were facing in the direction of Mom, who was in a tree across the trail.

They were half sleeping and would look around every once in while. There’s a lot of bird traffic going on since the nest is between two osprey nest. Seagulls and pelicans were cruising by overhead.