Bees & Owls
When you're sick as a dog, your friends will blog. Mr. Neil did the beekeeping entry this week! When we learned that the Kitty hive had died, we decided to keep her honey for ourselves rather than give it to Olga (on the off chance Kitty died from some bee disease). So, this week Mr. Neil undertook that monumental task of extracting Kitty honey. He used the simple (and sticky) cheesecloth method.
Meanwhile, I've been trying to catch up on all the work I missed last week. Ugh. Tomorrow, I plan on going out and birding the crap out of Sunday. Perhaps, take my Fuji out for one last hurrah before my new digiscoping camera arrives. Today, I stepped out for an hour to peak at a great horned owl nest that Ecobirder has blogged about. It's a busy intersection in the south metro, across from a strip mall. The owls are remarkably obvious when you drive by.
There are two owls in the above photo. Can you spot them? If you can't see them, check out the photo below:
The female was on the nest and the male was hanging out towards the center of the tree. Normally, the males are well hidden, but I'm not gonna argue a good look at a great horned owl. If he doesn't want to behave the way books say he's supposed to behave, who am I to tell him what to do?
You could see the female on the nest through the scope, but it was pretty much a vent side (aka butt side) view of her.
The male was much easier to see and a welcome treat for sore eyes that had been holed up indoors for the past week.
Meanwhile, I've been trying to catch up on all the work I missed last week. Ugh. Tomorrow, I plan on going out and birding the crap out of Sunday. Perhaps, take my Fuji out for one last hurrah before my new digiscoping camera arrives. Today, I stepped out for an hour to peak at a great horned owl nest that Ecobirder has blogged about. It's a busy intersection in the south metro, across from a strip mall. The owls are remarkably obvious when you drive by.
There are two owls in the above photo. Can you spot them? If you can't see them, check out the photo below:
The female was on the nest and the male was hanging out towards the center of the tree. Normally, the males are well hidden, but I'm not gonna argue a good look at a great horned owl. If he doesn't want to behave the way books say he's supposed to behave, who am I to tell him what to do?
You could see the female on the nest through the scope, but it was pretty much a vent side (aka butt side) view of her.
The male was much easier to see and a welcome treat for sore eyes that had been holed up indoors for the past week.Labels: beekeeping, bees, digiscoping, owls
posted by birdchick at 5:58 PM
6 Comments:
Cool, baby owls. How many owls does a nest have? I can believe that an owl visits my home every evening. I heard it every night and I think it's so awesome! How wonderful that Mr. N. has two nests in his trees!
A friend of mine has a small hobby farm in Lakeville for 25 years. A few years ago he had to sell because of development, and a fast food joint was built where his barn used to be. We were sad about all the critters that lived in his woods were displaced, so I'd like to think that these are the owls he used to see when he lived there. Probably not, but I'm going to send him the link.
We had a hopeful sign this weekend around our pond. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS were flying around, and a few little blue birds were scoping out their boxes, but the woodpecker (rose breasted?) has already laid claim. Meanie
There must be SOME benefit to owls that they lay their eggs during the snowiest part of the year, but I sure don't know what it is.
I just love Great Horned Owls! They have the best hoot of all time of any owl anywhere ever!
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/02/sex-changing-ch.html
Cool pictures!
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