Our Owl(s)

We've known we had an owl around our backyard for months because we hear it often.   But one evening, we were sitting at the table and saw it swoop down and land in a tree at the back of our yard.  It landed on the far side of the tree where we couldn't see it, but when it didn't leave again, Derek went out to investigate.  I, of course, asked him take his phone to photograph anything he found! :)  What he found was this:

A mama and a baby owl!  At first it was really hard to see the baby, since it crouches down into the nest. Derek shot this through his binoculars. 

The boys were able to spot it though.  And there's been a lot of excitement about owls since!  Even stuffed owls we already owned. Ha.

The boys go out and cautiously check on the nest every time they go outside.

We're having fun keeping an eye on the pair, while being careful not to disturb them.

We've noticed that the mama sit out on a branch about 9am every day.  Then she flies back and forth from a higher perch a few times.  If you look carefully, you can see her...  or can you?  ha.  She's there.

Owen has even spotted her flying around.  She's hard to miss, she's huge, I'm guessing about two feet tall! And he wing span that is double that!  Owen likes to drag daddy out to have him lift him up to see the nest.

Or find his own perch to see if he can catch a glimpse.

The boys have also talked Derek into helping them get a better view from his shoulders. 

This week, the baby has started to venture from the nest a little!  After a little research we've decided they are Great Horned Owls.   We'd read in our research that the baby would start to do some exploring before it's actually able to fly and leave the nest completely.  So the boys have instructions to be extremely cautious if they see it out of the nest.  

We got a great view of the baby, even from a distance!

It's been educational too!  Once of the neighbors found owl pellets in their compost piles.  Upon research, we learned that owls regurgitate the indigestibles of their prey, like feathers, fur and bones, back up in a pellet form.  And that's exactly what we saw... a great science lesson. :)

Yesterday, we noticed that baby owl is getting pretty adventurous.  We could see it from the kitchen, sitting quite a ways from the nest.

It was a lot of excitement over breakfast.

We're enjoying having these owls around for now.  We may even have to invest in a garden decoy to play with if they ever leave.   Owen found one at Aldi he's pretty sure will work!

We're all kind of obsessed with owls!

(Or "Owie" as Owen calls them. ha.)