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Dinner For The Great Horned Owl Family

These three Great Horned Owlets are getting big, and the older two often flap their wings, especially when they see mom or dad coming with food and get excited. Here’s mom now with a mouse for dinner, and in a few seconds she will jump in and start feeding her babies little bits, and probably also feed herself too. It is always exciting to me to see mom arrive at the nest, and I was very happy to get this shot of her, especially with prey she had just caught!

One of the most common owls in North America, the Great Horned Owl is often seen in Colorado, and its deep hoots may be heard rolling through the air on mid-winter nights. With their long, earlike tufts, penetrating yellow-eyed stare, and deep hooting voice, Great Horned Owls are the owls of storybooks. These owls nest very early here — in January — and as a result the babies are already getting big in April. These powerful predators can take down birds and mammals even larger than themselves, but they also dine on daintier fare such as tiny scorpions, mice, and frogs. This owl is equally at home in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards, cities, and almost any other semi-open habitat between the Arctic and the tropics.

Photo taken in Boulder, Colorado, on April 17, 2019

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