Baby Owl in my Woods

Comment

Comment by Kristin on January 2, 2011 at 7:28pm

What's funny is this little baby came looking for me! 

Comment by Robert P. Meyer Jr. on January 2, 2011 at 6:56pm

I love owl shots!  You were quite fortunate To capture this one!  Sometimes, we're just in the right spot a the right time.  Good for you!

Comment by Kristin on January 2, 2011 at 11:48am

I wasn't sure what kind of owl it was because the babies look SO much different than the adult, so I looked on owlpages.com and if I recall it's a long-horn.  It's hard to see in this pic, but it has little tufts (horns) poking up on its forhead.  I posted this pic on their website and forgot about it.  A few years later I got a call from a publishing company in Australia that said they were doing a children's wildlife book for National Geographic and that they had searched all their resouces and had not seen a baby owl like this in the wild in the protective stance (I found that hard to believe, but whatever).  They wanted to know if they could use my picture and they would pay me (not the other way around) $300 for the right to use it.  I thought it was a scam of some sort, but through some more inquiries it turned out legit.  Unfortunately in the end they could not use my picture because it did not have good enough pixels or something like that (remember I took it with my cam corder).  But I still thought it was an awesome opportunity.  How cool that would have been to see my baby owl in a Natl Geo book.  Maybe next time :-)

Comment by Steen Krause on January 2, 2011 at 11:29am

How fun! I love owls!

Comment by wiffledust on January 2, 2011 at 10:00am

how sweet! and how great you found this!!!

Comment by Maggie Friend on December 31, 2010 at 5:52am

What a rare and wonderful treat!

Comment by Kristin on December 30, 2010 at 11:46pm

I first saw this owl in my driveway (I live in the woods) just sitting there on the ground.  I got out of my car and "chatted" with it for a bit.  When I tried to get close it fluffed its feathers out like a peacock and waddled back and forth in one place and made a knocking/clucking sound with its beak,  yet it wasn't afraid.  I clucked back of course and interacted with it for several minutes.  I finally had to leave.  When I got back home it was gone.  Around midnight that night I went to let the cat out and when I cracked the door open it jumped back and hissed.  I thought the dog was on the other side of the door, but when I opened the door there sat the baby owl smack on the frame of my door!  I kid you not!  I grabbed the cam corder, and my husband, and I got down on my tummy and "chatted" with it a while longer.  I think it thought I was his mother.  It fluffed for me again and did it's little waddle right there on the door frame.  Finally we had to shut the door (what was I supposed to do . . . invite it in).  I kept checking on it as it mozied off into the woods.  Two days later I found it sitting on this branch about 6 feet up in my woods.  My cam corder has a setting to take a still pic, so that's how I got this one.