Talk About Following Your Passion

2009-04-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

The other day, on the way home from gym, a large bird flew past my car.
I had to get a closer look, since we have a neighborhood osprey, and I
often see her carrying away fish from our adjacent pond. I drove to
where she landed and to my surprise it was a Great Horned Owl that had
just caught a small mammal and was tearing at it on the branch. Luckily,
I’m always prepared with binoculars in the car, so I sat there watching
this National Geographic moment for a little while. I turned away for a
second and when I looked up she was on another branch, but this time,
standing next to her was another large owl.

How exciting is that to see two Great Horned Owls in the wild, eating! But then I noticed that the two owls were not a mating pair, but a Mama and her Baby (who, by the way, was just about her size, but with a lot of the downy feathers you find on
young birds). You can’t imagine my thrill to be watching a mother feeding
her baby, right in front of me, in the wild. I called my husband to come
quickly and to bring the camera (which unfortunately is just a little digital
version without a zoom lens). Needless to say, we took a mountain of pictures.
I came back the next day hoping to see them again and as luck would have it,
Mama was there, but on another tree were her twin babies – that’s right. She
had another baby and they were perched on a branch together, looking down at
me.

I have been back to the site numerous times just to watch them. My husband
came back with our telescope and was able to creatively take a few awesome
pictures. I named the babies, Chuck and Chelsea, and Mama seems to always
be there in her majestic beauty, watching over her brood.

I could spend all day, every day, watching wildlife. For some reason, when
you go to the zoo and see the Great Horned Owls, it’s just not the same as
when they are free to be an owl in their natural habitat. I realize that

nature, wildlife, and all animals have always been my secret passion, and
I’m finally at the age to perhaps do something about it. While I’m still
working and don’t have time, yet, to volunteer, I will look into some options
for the future. Meanwhile, I set up a new blog, called The Wildlife Chronicles,
where I hope other people will report their sightings so we can all hear your
adventures.