Great-horned owl chick

Yesterday I posted a blog on a female great-horned owl.  She was the first of that species I had ever seen in the wild.  Later on that day, I found the single chick and male owls nearby.  I didn't get a great shot of either one, so this morning I was out again and got a better shot of the juvenile.

It seems counter-intuitive to see a bird that large and think of it as a chick.  It is about the same size as the male (female great-horned owls are larger than males), which makes me think it is a female with some growing to do.   Most owls rest during the day as they hunt at night.  The chick has its eyes closed and will likely stay perched here until evening.  Yesterday it was in a different tree; it had moved sometime in the night.

There is a large nest nearby which is currently unused.  Great-horned owls rarely build their own nests; rather they use 2nd-hand nests from ravens or birds of prey and will line it with feathers or other soft material.  The pair laid two eggs that would have been incubated for around 5 weeks.  Both eggs hatched, but one chick died leaving a single juvenile.  The young don't leave the nest until after about 6 weeks.  

The parents are giving the chick considerable space but keep it within eye-view. The male was about 20 feet away from the chick this morning.  They were about the same distance apart when I saw them yesterday.  

One of the things I like about the above photo is that you can see one of the chick's talons.  Even at its relatively young age it could still impart serious harm to anything it grabbed onto.  I imagine the same is true of the beak.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com