I promised more owl babies and here they are! This second family was located by Twin Silo Park. Sadly, sometime in mid June their nesting tree was cut down due to safety issues (rotten inside). They had used this tree for many years. Thankfully, they moved on to surrounding trees. Baby owls typically stick around the nest for up to 42 days. I will be sad next year when they have to find a new nesting tree, and me, new owls to photograph. As you can see by the fluffy feathers and large leaves, these owls were much younger and born later than the other ones I had photographed. This family also had three owlets in their brood. Great horned owls can have anywhere from 1-4 owlets. How many owls do you spot in the photo below?

This year I found a couple of new spots for baby great horned owls. A great amount of time goes into visiting various locations in Fort Collins to get glimpses of these cute and fluffy birds as they come of age. The owl search begins in mid to late April and May. After searching various apps I thought I had found a couple of good options. I headed out to my first location once I learned that the babies were out of the hole/nest. You’d think it’d be easy to locate the babies, but time and time again over the course of the spring, they would stump me. I even began to look forward to the challenge of finding them. It was an owl version of Where’s Waldo.

I can’t tell you how excited I am for spring! I love when the blackbirds return, the animals start frolicking outside again, the bulbs start blooming, nests are built, and the baby animals hatch or are born. Every day in the spring is an adventure and I plan to record my outings and post here on my blog. The first edition of my spring blog will focus primarily on the blue herons return to Northern Colorado and their nesting habits.