Tag: Owls

Mr. & Mrs. Owl

Timothy Price52 Comments
0A6A9629
Mr. & Mrs. Owl sitting in a cottonwood across from their nest.

We walked down to check on the mama owl who’s been sitting in her nest for a little over a month. She and the daddy owl where sitting in a cottonwood across the irrigation ditch from their nest. Mr. Owl would hoot at Mrs. Owl and then she would peep. After he flew, I walked around to the other side of Mrs. Owl, and I could see she had something in the talons of her her left foot, but I could not make out what it was. She finally flew over to the nest and then we could see she had a gopher for her little ones. I expect we’ll start seeing the owlets poking their fuzzy heads up over the edge of the nest to look out at all the people standing on the ditch bank gawking at them in a couple of weeks.

Below is a short video of Mr. Owl hooting at Mrs. with wind and a pesky chainsaw in the background.

 

You can click on the photos in the group below to see each image enlarged:

0A6A9700
Mrs. Owl in the nest with her ear tufts blowing in the wind.

Firsts, Cats, Close to Lasts

Timothy Price22 Comments
0A6A8727
First bloom purple crocus.
0A6A8774
First bloom yellow crocus.
010O0047
Mama owl sitting on her eggs.
010O0051
We should start seeing owlets in a couple of months.
010O0053
The not quite full moon had an interesting color just before sunset.
010O0056
Marble being silly.
010O0061
Spunk being handsome.
010O0063
Sasha being beautiful.
IMG_5600
Cottonwood in the bosque basking in the late afternoon sun.
010O0015
Maybe the last of the cranes.
010O0038
¡Hasta la vista!

Trees at Sunset

Timothy Price38 Comments
DSCF5348
Holly’s Tangle-Heart Tree
DSCF5335
Cool clouds over the levee and bosque.
DSCF5362
Susan’s Tree, Teagan’s Trees, Robin’s Tree, and the unclaimed Tree. There’s an owl in Teagan’s Tree.
DSCF5364
Teagan’s Tree with an owl perched in it.

Below is a closer shot of the owl in Teagan’s Tree. The owl flying over us as we walked towards it on the ditch bank. The owl landed in a tree behind me along the ditch bank. Two closeups of the owl.

Two Owls, A Pterodactyl in the Tangle-Heart Tree

Timothy Price24 Comments
0A6A8003
Pterodactyl (Great Blue Heron) perched on the Tangle-Heart Tree.

While I was out in the bosque at sunset, I saw two owls in a cottonwood, and a pterodactyl (Great Blue Heron) in the Tangle-Heart Tree. I also photographed cranes against a colored sky, and two ducks in the dark.

0A6A8005
Great Horned Owl in a cottonwood.
0A6A8009
Pterodactyl flying, framed by the end of the Tangle-Heart tree.
0A6A7945
Cranes against the colored sky.
0A6A8016
Great Horned Owl on a branch above the first owl.
0A6A8037
Male Mallard. Mr. Duck in the dark.
0A6A8039
Female Mallard. Mrs. Duck in the dark.

Owl at Dusk

Timothy Price28 Comments

This short video is of a Great Horned Owl I saw in the tip top of Mia’s tree when we walking in the bosque at dusk last night. The video is made from “Live” photos I took of the owl with my iPhone.  If you are not familiar with Live photos, the phone takes a 2 to 3 second video in the process of taking the still photo.  I added a short piece of music I assembled from other songs I recorded a few months. The owl may have been one of the owls in the photos below.

Cooper’s Cry

Timothy Price18 Comments
0A6A0722
Cooper’s Hawk crying

We where walking on the levee well after sundown, when we heard a cry that sounded somewhat like a monkey. We looked in the trees, but could not see who was crying. Then we saw a bird jump from branch to branch. Finally a Copper’s Hawk settled on a branch where we had a better view, and I was able to get photos of it through the branches and leaves. It jumped to another branch where it was mostly hidden, but then a much larger bird, flapped it’s wings closer to the Cooper’s Hawk; but it remained hidden behind branches and leaves. The Cooper’s Hawk flew back to another branch where I was able to get another photo of it before it took off into the bosque. A Great Horned Owl (possibly Virginia) flew out from behind the branches and leaves into the bosque a few moments later. I presume the owl was after the Cooper’s Hawk’s chicks and the Cooper’s Hawk was trying to distract the owl with it’s crying. Great horned owls are three to four times larger than Cooper’s Hawks, and could easily make a meal of an adult Cooper’s Hawk, which is probably why the Copper’s Hawk was not attacking the owl.

0A6A0726
Looking determined
0A6A0730
Checking out the paparazzo or the owl or both of us.