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In late winter 2003 we put a bushel basket
up in a tree behind the pole shed. March 2004 finds a pair of owls
using the basket for their nest site. Usually horned owls
are born in March in this part of Wisconsin, but the pair must have lost
the first hatch or did not mate until late. We were blessed with
the event either way. The story and photos below record the
event. It has been such an honor to be a small part of this
nesting, hatching and fledging of one of Gods small miracles. |
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| Ms.
Harvey, the female owl, came to us as an food dependent bird in 1997.
She stayed here after her release and decided that this was her home. |
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| She was
always alone here and spent her nights on top of our surrogate owl cage.
She laid eggs in 2003 on top of the pen and they rolled off. They
were unfertile. |
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| In late
winter 2003 she showed up with a small gray owl by her side. In
late March there was only one owl in the tree and one in the basket.
They had chosen the basket for their nest site. |
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| We put a
camera on the basket and waited 40 days and 40 nights and then we went
up to see what the basket held. The chick was probably 1-2 days
old at this time, May 9th, 2004. The second egg was piped, but did
not hatch and disappeared by the first week. |
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| At about
three weeks of age things were getting a little scary when we climbed
the ladder. The mother was more involved and showed us that we
should be very careful. The chick was always covered by the mother
in all bad weather. It was never left alone in a high wind or a
rain storm. Warm sunny days she just sat next to the nest. |
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| Because
of the extremely wet spring we had to reinforce the basket with a
plastic tub with holes in it. The weight of the chick and the
mother was to much for the basket. We have gained much respect for
great horned owls watching this event take place. They are great
and caring parents. |
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| Banding
day comes when the chick is just over four weeks of age. The
mother is not happy with us and it takes a few attempts to get the chick
from the nest without getting a few talons on our person. |
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| She
continues to let us know this is not a good idea. She finally
flees about 200 feet from the nest and up we go. The chick is making
much to do about the procedure and clicks all the way down the ladder. |
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| The
chick is brought into the house for banding. The leg is measured
for size of band. It measures a size 9, which would indicate
a female bird. |
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| The band
is put on and we make sure it swivels and moves up and down and is not
to tight. Cliff Schmidt holds her for her new bracelet photo. |
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| Her
mother is waiting for us at the nest site, not too happy. The chick is
put back and peeks over the edge of the tub waiting for us to leave her
alone. |
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| On the
night of June 8th she slips from the nest and we can not find her in the
dark. The next day June 9th we locate her some 200 yards from the
nest and put her back in the nest. On the night of June 9th she
jumps from the nest and again the next day we find her, but let her on
the ground and leave her to her parents and her new world. |
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After the rains finally stopped on June
12th we went to find the chick. The mother kept leading us away
from the spot we thought it to be. We walked more and finally
found a blow down leading up to a tall tree. Low and behold
there she was high and dry off the ground. |
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We took many photos of her sitting high in
her world. The mother called twice but did not come in. The
chick was fuzzy down again, even after all the drenching rains for two
days. We keep learning from each event that takes place here.
The hardest lesson to learn is "LETTING GO". |
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