17 February 2025

It was overcast with misty rain when Dana Nesiti visited Schenley Park on Saturday 15 February to capture photos of the great horned owl’s nest. As you can see, the owlet is growing fast and starting to get facial disc feathers. (You can also see raindrops on the back of Dana’s camera, below.)

For comparison, here’s what the owlet looked like 4 days earlier on 11 February — all beak.

Hoping for a good look at the owl family, Charity Kheshgi and I visited Schenley yesterday while it was sunny. Unfortunately the wind was so cold that the owlet hid beneath his mother’s belly feathers while her ear tufts flapped in the wind.

We did, however, find the father owl roosting in a tree on the opposite hillside — in the sun and out of the wind.

Today it’s so cold that the owlet will be hiding. Next weekend’s above freezing temperatures will be a good time to check on his progress.