@yukimori 15 April 2022

It's #ThrowbackThursday for a few more hours where I am. What better time to share this great horned owl photo from April 15, 2021? Those of you who also post on myLot might have seen this one already; I made several posts about Mama Owl and her owlets over there last year, and this was one of the photos I uploaded. The parents return to this tree to nest every year, and over the course of nearly a decade we've watched them send around two dozen owlets off into the world. We weren't sure that they would come back this year. During one of the storms this fall a large branch fell into the part of the tree where they nest, and aside from that this would be the fourth year in a row that they had a clutch. They don't breed every year, and we thought this year might be one they skip. We still drive by the tree on occasion, though, and we *thought* we might have gotten a glimpse of Mama Owl sitting on her eggs a couple weeks ago. It was just the top of her head, and she blends in *very* well with the color of the trunk so we weren't completely sure... but this morning we went by again and there she was, sitting just above where the nest should be. And this afternoon the kids and I went by again, and while Mama wasn't anywhere to be seen there was a fluffy puffy white owlet peering out of the nest at us and Papa Owl--who we almost never see--was keeping watch in one of the higher branches of the tree. I'm looking forward to going back tomorrow with my "real" camera. 😁