Owl Surprises and I Was Ready~

 

With the amazing sunrise over horse country in Prospect, KY, I just knew it had to be a great day and the whole week turned out to be just as great.

Let me begin with...no I do not live in those houses, aren't they something...

Prospect is one of the wealthiest zip codes in the USA, but no, I live near, but not in...

Huge difference...just had to make that point ;)

It was Easter Sunday weekend when I had gone to the Anchorage Park where the Barred Owl that I have posted before lives. 

There are many songbirds, water birds, and raptors, as well as other wildlife that call this park their home. 

We had gotten a message  from BirdKY alert, that the Great Horned Owl pair was moving their owlets from their nest site and so I had gone to see what I could find. 

First go...nothing.

Second stop same place, and there they were. 

I found the beautiful female and 2 owlets in a large tree right above that water shown in the top mosaic. 

The Barred Owl selections were taken then last Monday, and they uploaded for some reason before my Great Horned Owl images.

Can you see the Raccoon tail hanging out of the tree...I found 2 in the park on my visits.

The meadow just below is prime target area to view this beauty. 

In arriving at the park to mainly exercise my bad knees a bit, I always have camera on hand, but had not planned for anything special on this day.

As I walked the path and had just begun to cross a bridge, I noticed 2 men with binoculars and cameras...must be something good. 

Oh yes it was...the Barred Owl was hunting and right at that moment, my big ideas to walk 3 miles, turned into 147 photos being taken and then, a shorter walk~

Remember to double click on the image, to view a larger slide show of the images shared

   

 I will also be linking up with Mary at:

 

Mosaic Monday

 

at: 

  http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.

 

As well as I am linking up with Stewart at:

 

   Wild Bird Wednesday

(http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/) 

 



 

The Barred Owl was feasting on one Crawdad after the other, as well as at least one Salamander, and could have cared less, that we were watching it from so near...

It was truly a momentous occasion to observe it and photograph this amazing creature~



Oops, it dropped the Salamander and so it had to go down and retrieve it...too wonderful~

 

It would fly down every few minutes and snag yet another morsel to feast on. 

The 2 gentlemen had seen it about an hour earlier, taken their walk and come back...

The Owl had been eating the whole time ;)

 

Yet another Crawdad~

 

Well, if it could not get much better, the Owl even brought up a casting/pellet...can you see it falling in the bottom right hand image of the mosaic below...

 

"These are the pellets (or castings) of an Owl. They consist of undigested fur, feathers, bills, claws, teeth, skulls and bones of the prey animals. In owls, the pellet forms from 6 to 10 hours after the meal is eaten, and is regurgitated from 10 to 16 hours after the meal."



 

Philadelphia Fleabane wildflowers~

Below, are some of my most prized wildlife images ever taken...I was absolutely thrilled~





The view beneath is both near where the Barred Owl stays after the nesting season is completed and for the nesting season the Great Horned Owls reside. 

They do not cross each others territory much during this season, for the GHO is the master of this land and would take the Barred Owl~

 

Below is one of the 2 Great Horned Owlets~



The adult female Great Horned Owl was watching me and I was staying very calm and very careful...if you have never seen their talons, you do not want them applied to oneself for sure...they are very powerful~

 

NOTE!

"References to a Great Horned Owl’s grip strength states such things as equal to a Golden Eagle’s, equal to the bite of an adult German shepherd, five times stronger than the grip of a man, or up to 500 pounds per square inch."

OUCH!

To the left is the second Owlet perched up near the adult female. 

 I knew very well that the adult male was also perched very near...I was very cautious, to say the least, never making eye contact, but using my camera as my eyes~



 

Near the GHO, I found this Raccoon asleep in a hole upside down, just chilling ;) ~



This was the path that I took to get to the Owls, it is so green these days and one must check themselves after such a walk, for the Ticks are already out and biting bad!





Have a wonderful week, keep your eyes open and your camera ready, there are always surprises awaiting you, if you just look up and out, and not always down~