What a Hoot: Great Horned Owl Babies-Part I

A juvenile great horned owl perches in a tree.

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.

X marks the spot for this baby great horned owl.

This particular brood had three babies. I would usually find two perched together and one separate. Occasionally, you could find a parent or two as well.

Two baby great horned owls perch in a tree.

One day, after walking and walking around with my eyes in the treetops, I was almost ready to give up my search. Low and behold, I finally found one atop a dead cottonwood branch.

Don't give up, you might look high in the air and spot a baby owl.

Or maybe, the owl will spot you.

And, if you are lucky, the second one might be perched right next to the first owl!

The view from this side wasn’t that great of the second owl so I decided to walk around the tree for a better vantage point.

It was almost like the owls were posing for me.

Thankfully, the next time I came back, one owlet had decided to perch in the setting sun on a branch for me. I guess it wanted a portrait! As the pictures progress, notice how the leaves start to emerge and make it more and more difficult to spot the owls.

The baby great horned owl puts his best side forward.

To do the baby owl justice, I treated this visit how I’d treat a teenager’s high school senior portrait session.

I took an environmental shot of the owlet first.

Then, I took the close-up portrait.

Lastly, I got direct eye contact.

After completing that owlets session I went in search of the rest of the family. After a quick scan, and then another, I found the other two hiding in the willows. Every time I visited, the babies seemed to get a little farther from the nest tree and into more protected areas.

As their ability to fly improves and the leaves start to grow, it gets harder and harder to spot the owls,

An adult great horned owl keeps an eye on me.

You can really get the idea of why they are called great horned owls.

The tufts of feathers aren’t really horns, however, but are called plumicorns. Amazingly, scientists still don’t know the purpose of those tufts of feathers.

An adult and baby owl hang out in a tree together.

An owlet is camouflaged in a cottonwood tree.

The baby owl almost looks surprised to see me down below.

The baby owl is starting to lose the fluff.

Almost hidden, but not quite.

It’s fun to scroll down from the top and notice the changes in the owlets as they get older that coincide with the leaves coming out and getting bigger. Sadly, my time with these owls had to come to an end due to the difficulty of spotting them in the fully leafed out trees. I can’t wait for next years great horned owl babies from these two parents! Stay tuned for the next blog post that will showcase two different owl families! For more information about great horned owls be sure to check out this link.