The Great Horned Owl Family

I like Spring. Everything waking up after a long winter is fun to see. For some reason, I haven’t been walking the trails that much lately. I still enjoy it. Just don’t do it as often. One thing is for sure though. I always stop by the “Owl Basket”.

The Owl Basket, located in the woods near me, is home to a Great Horned Owl family. It’s location is a tightly held secret and only a handful of people know about it. It’s a pain to get to and if you don’t know what you’re looking for you’ll more than likely pass right by and never see it. Which is good.

I went out there once in January to check on it and found mom in the nest. Always a good sign! I didn’t return at all until this visit. It was a nice day and the Blackhawks weren’t playing until later in the day so I thought I would take a walk and see what was going on out there. Upon arrival, I only saw the one head peeking out of the basket and made a few pictures. I just figured there was only one baby this year. I started walking around the trees and saw mom off in the distance checking me out. All of a sudden she took flight and headed right towards me. She flew about 10′ over my head and went back to her roost. That is when I saw the other baby! He/She was on a branch just above the basket giving me the “who are you?” look. Very cool. After a “portrait session” that lasted for about 10 minutes I was on my way.

They say timing is everything and this was a perfect example of just that.