The Search for Great Horned Owls
This fall I have been really enjoying wildlife photography. Over the past few years I’ve mainly focused on landscape images, but recently taking images of animals in the wild has been a great change of pace for me, as well as a fun way to connect more with places close to home. One of my main goals in wildlife photography has been to find owls near me. Something about these animals resonates with me; they are powerful predators, yet so graceful. There’s almost a mystical nature to them for me. However, it ended up being more difficult than I anticipated to find them! I spent weeks returning to locations where I had read they could be found, and I scoured the internet looking for more information about their preferred habitats and behaviors. I focused on great horned owls because they are the most frequent owls in my area along the Front Range of Colorado. Finally I have started to have some luck with seeing them, so I wanted to share my findings! The first owl I saw was near Stearns Lake in Broomfield.
I came back to that same spot with a friend the next morning in hopes of seeing this owl again. We saw two owls flying around while it was still dark, but we couldn’t locate them once the sun came up. The day after, I went out to Barr Lake State Park to see bald eagles and other birds of prey. To my surprise, within the first mile I saw another great horned owl! It was hidden well in a tree, but there were a few other photographers around observing it that made it clear that something was around.
On the hike back out, I saw that owl in a different spot! Here it was perched against a tree, with beautiful light illuminating it at sunset.
About fifty feet from that owl, there was another one hidden deep in the brush! This one was extremely difficult to photograph, but I managed to get two different shots that demonstrate how well these owls are able to camouflage and hide during the day.
On another day, I went back out to Stearns Lake in hopes of seeing the owl that had been there before. To my surprise, there were two great horned owls perched on a branch near where I had seen the owl originally!
As the sun was setting, they started to interact with each other. I love this shot showing the two owls looking at each other.
On a snowy morning, I went back to Barr Lake with friends to photograph birds in the wintry conditions. Very soon we encountered another owl, perched perfectly in this tree. The snowy environment really adds to the image for me, and shows the harsh environment these animals are adapted to survive in. We were only able to stay outside for an hour and a half before we got too cold, but these owls have to be out there all day!
The final great horned owl I’ve seen over the last month was while I was out walking my dog Koda. I glanced up at some cottonwoods and noticed the boxy shape of an owl perched high in this tree. I came back with my camera an hour later, and the owl was still in the same spot, which allowed me to make some photographs of it. Thankfully it was sitting in a spot where I could get a clean shot without tons of branches obscuring it. The second shot I have here shows this owl puffing its chest feathers out. I hadn’t seen this behavior before, but I believe it was making itself look bigger to look more intimidating and scare me off. This was the first sign I had seen that it wasn’t comfortable with my presence, so I left once I realized what was happening. As much fun as it is to see these animals, it’s more important to respect them and not disturb them in their environment.
