I rejoice that there are owls…They represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all have.

~Henry David Thoreau

On Monday I was planning a hike to get away from the crowds along the roadways in the northern range. As I was driving, I decided to go down the Blacktail Drive, a one-way 6-mile dirt road through some beautiful landscapes. I was immediately disappointed when I saw another car ahead only a half-mile in. Turned out to be two stopped cars so I slowly eased up, looking left and right to see what they might be watching. The first car moved off as I approached, then the second, and I never saw anything, a frustratingly common occurrence in the park. What did they see? Well, the first car was stopped in a wide spot a little farther along so I rolled down my window and asked. With a huge smile, the man said “a black wolf, and we got some great pictures”. It had crossed the dirt road in front of them and then stopped and finally walked into the trees and over the hill as I drove up. I was bummed to say the least! I later spoke to the occupants of the second car and they confirmed it had been a wolf. This is Yellowstone – you never know what you might see anywhere anytime.

At the end of the drive you come down to the main road near the Petrified Tree road. I could see a large crowd gathered across the meadow so I assumed it was another black bear, although the thought of a possible moose made me pull over and get out to go see. I walked up to the edge of the knoll and there was a large cinnamon brown bear grazing in the clearing. I stood and watched the people, knowing that many were thinking they were seeing their first grizzly, an understandable mistake if you aren’t familiar with these brown-colored black bears that are so common in Yellowstone. As I walked back to the car, “nature called” so I went beyond the lot into the trees. When I came back there was a man in a truck parked next to me who enthusiastically told me about the bear just over the rise. He wanted to know if I saw anything back in the trees. Well, not wanting to admit it, I said I was looking for a western tanager. He exclaimed, “oh, you’re into birds?”. He then shared he had an amazing encounter with some birds as he drove into the park – “I had to pee, you know how that is”…I nodded. He continued “I got out of the truck and went into the woods and heard a hoot”. He looked around and saw a great horned owl nest with two chicks. I asked him where and he began giving some vague directions that led me to a possible location where I knew owls had nested in the vicinity in years past. I thanked him and headed straight to that area. I pulled over and got out looking for likely trees (hollow trees, broken snags, or trees with old nests or mistletoe clumps) and, incredibly, I saw an owl atop a broken tree trunk. I walked way around and above the tree hoping to have a better angle for viewing, but I could only see the adult sitting on the edge of the snag. By the way, all these photos are taken with my 200-800 mm telephoto and are cropped. I was trying to not disturb the birds. At times, I obviously was spotted by them. But other people walk around this popular area so I think the birds are accustomed to seeing people nearby. But I doubt many people see the birds as they blend in very well.

I continued to move uphill and the owl then spotted me so I stopped.

I kept wondering how that guy saw two owlets, but figured the little ones had been standing when he was there. I looked up behind me and it was a steep slope with a jumble of huge jagged boulders. Not very inviting. I did think that in my younger days I might have tried it, but I thought better of it now. I then decided to go to another vantage point on the opposite side of the tree and see what the nest looked like. That was the secret as I saw an owlet staring at me.

I went back to the car and brought out the spotting scope and hooked up my phone on the adapter. Now I was much farther away and was partially hidden in some trees so any passing people would hopefully not see me observing the birds (I just didn’t want this to become a spectacle as the nest was approachable unlike the previous raptor nests I filmed).

Here are just a few of the clips I made while watching these beautiful owls…

–One chick (the largest I think) was moving around a lot more than the other one. Here it is moving its head around perhaps trying to focus on something.

–Both owlets get into the act in this clip. At one point the adult looks at them as if to say “would you guys settle down”. It didn’t work.

I have a lot of footage of the owls sitting in the nest, the wind blowing their feathers as they take a siesta or keep an eye on what’s going on below. But here is a different perspective showing the incredible talons that make great horned owls such lethal hunters.

After a light rain, I reluctantly headed back home. This is how I left them. They seemed pretty relaxed. Wishing the owlets a successful first flight in a few weeks.