Great-horned Owl Season at Cave Hill Cemetery and Arboretum~

It has been such a very long 15 months since Covid 19 Pandemic and the world stood still on so many fronts, 11 months since my identical twin sister Haze passed away from an incurable and untreatable lung cancer, and nearly 5 months since my last post entry.

 

Most days we stayed here on Tingsgrove.  I would venture to the market and return, clean off our items before bringing them into the house to place into refrigeration, or store on shelves.  We were not hoarders as some became, mainly because we could not find the items we needed, not so much wanted to even think about becoming hoarders.

 

In late December just after Christmas I had an early opportunity to get my Covid vaccination through the hospital where our daughter is an RN.  I had been placed on a waiting list and it didn't take long since many were in the beginning refusing to have it.  Mine were the 2 Moderna shots, given 28 days apart.  The first one only left me with a sore arm.  The second one was quite awful, as I was very ill for 8 days, 2 which I felt I was in trouble, but thankfully came through it fine in the end.

 

On days that I would decide weather permitting to get away, I would head out to check on the Bald Eagles, Red-Shouldered hawks and one of my most favorite lifetime places to visit...a cemetery.  Not any cemetery though...Cave Hill is absolutely gorgeous.  A place of rest for thousands, and also a nature refuge in that so many wildlife traverse the land, fly over, stop to visit, and many live their lives on the 296 acres of land which also serves as a botanical gardens.  

 

There are many birds like waterfowl, songbirds and Birds of Prey that call this land their territory.  There are five Red Fox kits this season, White-tailed Deer have roamed the land along with Mink, and River Otters swim at the quarry on the backside of the cemetery while dozens of Double Crested Cormorants fly overhead along with an occasional visit from a Bald Eagle and Osprey.  Honey bees swarm and use old trees for their hives.

 

Our family has been visiting the cemetery for some 65 years.  One of my favorite things to do is find the Bird of Prey nest sites in the Spring.  This year the Great-horned Owl pair had taken over the Red-tailed Hawk nest from last year.  They raised two beautiful owlets that fledged a few weeks ago and remain in the area.  

 

This post will share the Great-horned Owl family this season as well as some of the gorgeous beauty that this treasure chest offers on a visit.  This is one of the top 10 places people want to see when they go into the city of Louisville, Kentucky. Cave Hill also has a National cemetery within this hallowed ground~ 

  

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after  you have read the narratives~

 

 

 

 

                                                                        I'm joining Eileen at: 

Saturday's Critter

                     http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

 

 

Anni at:

http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/ 

I'd Rather Be Birdin'

 Linking to I'd Rather B Birdin' 

   

 

Angie at:  

Mosaic Monday

https://tentoesinthewater.blogspot.com/

 

 

& 

Stewart for:

Wild Bird Wednesday

 

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

 

 

 

Tulips and sunrise with the Moon showing behind the nest of the Great-horned Owl~

 

Dogwood blossoms and the adult female Great-horned Owl~

 

 

Adult female flying to the nest tree like a rocket~

 

The owlets were absolutely adorable!!!

 

 

 

Look how big those owlet wings have gotten~

Adult female in flight and then asleep~

 

The Owlets fledged right on time and traveled only 2 sections away from the nest is where we could find them for the first month.

In the pictures below, the larger, maybe older of the two and quite possibly a female was really very affectionate towards it's sibling.  In this set it is moving back a small branch with it's beak to make a better passage for the smaller sibling.  The sibling then hops over to where the larger one was waiting~

 

Sometimes it was rough getting from one branch to another~

One of the owlets took a good 20' tumble before grasping on to a large limb as it free fell through the tree branches.  It was okay, just a feather messed up and a little bit surprised~

 

These images were just taken on Monday of this week.  We knew that the second owlet was near by, but could not locate it once I had my camera ready.  Mom on left and owlet nearly her size now~

 

 

So many beautiful Spring blooms~

 

 

There had been a pair of Australian Black Swans until one day the female passed away.  John was very lonely and it was decided that a new female would need to be gotten to help mend his broken heart.  They mate for life and it was Spring time.  My friend Lee Payne, Jr had a female brought up from Florida a few weeks ago to meet John and see how it would go.  Petunia was introduced to him on the main lake and they were pretty much immediately a pair.  She followed him, sang to him and he did the same with her.  Will there be any cygnets this year, maybe not, but then it's not too late...is it ;)~

 

There have been anywhere from 1 to 30 Double Crested Cormorants at a time on the quarry lake~

 

 

A female Sebastopol Goose laying on 2 eggs, but this did not last long.  The eggs were taken by who knows what.  These beauties have frizzled and spirals of feathered locks, are quite docile and easy to manage...also endangered in some areas.  Thought to be a new cross breed and yet they have been around for hundreds of years~

 

 

An adult Greater White fronted Goose and a visiting Canada gosling was so sweet hanging out~

 

 

Out on a ledge.  This Canada Goose evidently landed in the quarry lake right in front of another goose's partner.  It was chased up onto the ledge and then when it hit the water again, it was chased out of the area~

 

A couple of pairs of Wood Ducks visited the quarry lake earlier in the Spring~

 

 

A male Cardinal eating a Leatherleaf Mahonia berry~

 

 

A couple of interesting bronze sculptures.  There are so many, one more interestingly beautiful, intriguing then the next~

 

"Let's Dance"~

 

 

This Red-tailed hawk has 2 fluffy eyas.  It's going to be rough trying to protect them since they are right in the range of the Great-horned Owls pathway~

 

The female Great-horned Owl playing "Peek a boo, I see you" ;)~

 

The Satterwhite families "Love Temple".  The largest piece of property in Cave Hill Cemetery, surrounded in the Spring by snow white Azaleas~