Bird photographer Rick Morris points his lens at owls and owlets

Menlo Park resident Rick Morris heard from a bird photographer friend that there was a family of great horned owls at a local park on the Peninsula — two adults and three new baby owlets.

The babies were all sitting in the nest the first few weeks, Unfortunately, the recent storms knocked out part of the nest and one of the baby owlets fell but survived.

The eggs were laid in mid-January and hatched in mid-February. The owlets stayed in the nest until the beginning of April when they started flying. The mother owl would catch a rodent and purposely fly to another tree to encourage the owtlets to fly to her to get fed.

Owlet is the term for a young owl. Owlets can be nestlings (young ones in the nest) or fledglings(ready to leave the nest or having recently left the nest and are learning to fly.)

For other Great Horned Owl images and videos, Rick recommends Richard Roth’s portfolio.

Photos by Rick Morris (c) 2023