A Snowbird in Paradise

Now I ask you...look at these two photos and tell me...is that a baby that appears at the left part of the nest?

I am shooting with a Canon Digital Rebel with a 300mm lens on a tripod and with a remote shutter trip, but this nest is so far away this is the best I can do. I am searching for articles on the Internet about how to shoot these photos. I don't know of any way to do better without buying a longer lens.

This is the photo I was out there to try and shoot...the adult takes to the sky around 6:30 PM ET every night and it is awesome to watch...just kind of hard to catch. The tripod is out of the question following a bird on the wing.

A litte better shot of the Great Horned Owl nesting in the tower. I am still quite frozen when she spreads the wings and takes off hunting in the evening. We have it pegged to 6:30pm as a prime watching time, but with Daylight Savings Time and Spring on the way, we will adjust.

So far I have seen no evidence of a second Owl and that brings a lot of questions to mind. Who helps sit the eggs? ARE there any eggs? Who will help care for the babies? Al that I have read says that the owl couple co-parent. Maybe I have just missed the changing of the guard in the night.
Why are there always more questions than answers???

The article about Great Horned Owls said they have such keen hearing they can hear a mouse rustle the grass at 1/4 a mile. It also said that a GHOwl will respond to a recorded owl hoot, or a good imitation.

So the other morning, as I was watching the nest through binoculars, I gave a trial, "oot oot" and sure enough, the owl lifted her head and looked right down at me.

I don't want to wear that out, but I am going to try again from time to time.

I feel incredibly lucky to have the chance to watch this owl and her nest. It is quite far away, considering the height of the tower and that it is across the little bay. Some day I will get a good picture of her.

This is from the website Desert USA

Great horned owls are one of the earliest spring nesting birds; eggs may be laid in January or February through April. They use abandoned stick nests of a hawk or heron or crow, but also nest in rock alcoves, hollows of trees, abandoned buildings, or sometimes on the ground.

Throughout the winter, courting great horned owls will light up their nesting territory with nighttime hooting. Generally 2-3 white eggs are laid, although they may lay up to 6 eggs. Both the male and female incubate the eggs for 30-35 days. The young are fed by both parents, and the parents fiercely defend their nest site against intruders. If young owls fall out of the nest prematurely, the adults will feed the bird on the ground.

The young fledge from the nest at 45-55 days old.

Great horned owls can live greater than 12 years; some captive birds have lived to 29 years old.

A few evenings ago I saw the Great Horned Owl w-a-a-a-a-y at the top of the cell tower. That is one of the tallest towers around and to see the Great Horned Owl at the top was a surprise. The big predator was sitting right at the edge of the Osprey nest built last year. We never did see baby Osprey last year and I hadn't noticed any activity at all this year so I guessed that the nest was abandoned.

What did the owl want with an old abandoned nest? The Great Horned Owl and Osprey prey on each other. Was that it? Was the owl looking for nestlings or eggs? Was the owl looking for a ready-made nest for this year's owl eggs? Don't they nest in hollow trees?

Soon the owl flew to another perch on the tower and evening took over.

The next evening I checked the nest with the binoculars again, just idly and there was a head...a MOVING head, peaking over the edge of the nest. It was NOT a Great Horned Owl. It MIGHT have been an Osprey. I couldn't see the telltale signs of white and black around the eye area.

The mystery continues.

In anticipation of last night's eclipse, there were several articles about taking photos of night celestial events. I read them, checked my camera's manual and was ready!

The camera was set to "No Flash", the tripod was extended as far as possible, and the camera was firmly mounted on the tripod. I pointed it at the moon and then noticed the clouds skittering around the moon. Oh well...it is digital. I knew I could always delete them if I didn't get a good shot. The first one looked good on the screen. So for the next couple of hours, I alternated between watching TV and my every-10-minute shots of the disappearing moon. As less and less of the moon showed, the shot took longer and longer. I was using the 10-second timer to reduce camera shake and I noticed how much longer the aperture remained open. I wasn't at all sure I would have any usable photos. Finally, right at Totality, the clouds won and I couldn't get any more photos. The above digital scrapbook page shows what photos I did get. The clouds actually add interest.

Friends of ours are staying in a campground to the west of Lake Okeechobee and we took a day trip to visit them. We had never driven across the state and never been on Okeechobee Road. I guess I expected the ride to be like the one up to Orlando...an expressway through wilderness...same thing for miles and miles.


I was pleasantly surprised. Land must have been cheap in the center of the state. There were huge tracts of and used as dairy and beef cattle ranches. I have never seen so many heads of cattle. I thought it must have looked a little like this in the Old West.


Other huge areas of land were devoted to sod farms. SOD FARMS? I didn't think anyone HAD grass in Florida. All I have ever see is St Augustine Grass...like our crabgrass in the north, and, I thought, something to try and kill.


However, nothing prepared me for the vast citrus orchards. they went on and on for miles on both sides of the road. When the trees were planted so that you could look down the rows, they stretched clear to the horizon! The bus loads of workers were picking and it looked like the job would never be completed. Big semi-truck loads of oranges were heading out to processing plants. These orchards were so vast that they HAD to be corporately owned.


The last surprise was a huge strawberry farm.

Yesterday I went out with the binoculars and this little woodpecker and I played a game of hide and seek. He was so amusing, peeking around the palm tree trunk first from one side then the other to be sure where I was so he could move.

This morning I heard his "Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat" and there he was again, having breakfast. I grabbed the camera and this time he was too busy to play, or rather, to care if I was there or not.

I was awakened before 8:00 AM the other morning by a din outside the bedroom window. By the time I roused and looked out the window nothing was there. However, I compared my memory of the screech, flap of huge wings, distress call of doves with what we know is around and came up with one of the Great Horned Owls taking out one of a pair of Doves that hang around the little flower garden. When I looked later there were a couple of down feathers. It certainly is a series of sounds I will never forget.

This is the END of our trip to Key West. Please go "back" to DAY 1 and read up to here. Sorry. That is just the way blogs work.
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This is the pool at the Motel where we stayed...Spanish Gardens in Key West.



All weekend I had wanted to wade in the ocean. This beautiful little beach was on one of the lower keys on the way back home. Thanks to our companion for suggesting it and for manning my camera.



This is the Banyan Tree Antiques and Plants between Mile Marker 80 and 81. What a place!!!



I just read a description of this Island Grill as "looking like a bait shack from the highway". However, we DID have to wait for a table so it isn't much of a secret. Again, our companions knew JUST the right place to go. Everyone raved abut their food AND they have Sweet Potato Fries. Yes, that is a canal from the ocean just the other side of the railing.