Wobbly Toddlers

Siblings looking sweet.

Great Horned Owl youngsters stay with their parents for six months. They are dependent on mom and dad feeding their insatiable appetites. As I watch the youngsters they look like wobbly toddlers. On the branch, they test their balance, stretch their wings, hop around, check out their toes, err… talons, and fidget lots (one sibling more than the other, by the way.)

Great Horned Owls perch two-thirds of the way up a tree and they sleep with one eye open. Keeping one eye open allows them to stay alert to danger. They also experience more REM sleep than a human. It takes a lot of quality downtime to recharge those batteries.

In some of these photos, one baby appears almost headless. But don’t worry, its neck is tucked and its face turned skyward. An airplane was going overhead and it was distracted by it. This made me wonder what the owl thought the plane was.

Through my lens I watch them look at the dogs that walk by (less so the older they get). The most interested they ever got- collectively including mom- was by two large fluffy-white Samoyeds. To be fair, those dogs were worthy of all the head turns.

Not unlike a wobbly toddler, so much of what they are doing right now is figuring out what’s what. They have little idea what is predator and what is prey. But as the leaves fill out the trees, they continue to practice and learn.