As I photographed the Great Horned Owl nest a Gray Squirrel ran up the tree with nesting material, she had a nest just three feet above the owls. Mom didn’t seem to care, but the little ones were interested and watched the Squirrel go by several times.
Triplet Great Horned Owls on a rainy day not long before the fledged.
Four baby owls watched by many at the historic Old Pen
Our urban, backyard nest box yielded an animated brood of Eastern Screech-Owls. Once the owlets were big enough to climb up and peek out of the nest box opening and take up most of the room in the box, the parents started spending their afternoons dozing in trees etc. nearby. One day we discovered the female snoozing on our window ledge about 10 feet from the tree with the nest box in it – close enough to keep an eye on the nest but far enough away for some peace and quiet!
While travelling along a flat, dirt road surrounded by tundra, an adult Short-eared Owl was easily seen flying off its nest. A bit of careful and mindful searching resulted in this photo of the nest with owlets and even some crushed eggs in the right foreground.
We had three Eastern Screech-Owlets fledge from our backyard nest box. Two or three days later we heard a group of smaller birds mobbing a maple tree a few yards over. Sure enough, the owl family was hiding out there and the smaller birds were letting everyone know. The owlets were very curious and cute checking us out at the base of the tree.