My owl friends: Early morning visit

I was so happy to figure out that early morning visits to the owls are the way to go! So I got my butt up and out the door bright and early this morning. It was still dark when I got over to Twin Lakes. As I walked down the trail, I could hear the baby owls asking for food. When I got to the nest, I could hear Cher making her "food noises". It sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball. We coined the term "food noises" because we've heard that sound before and then she'd fly into the nest and feed the kids. We're guessing she's processing the food so the young ones can eat it.
It was too dark for a pic but I saw her fly into the nest and feed those hungry kids. It looked like she was gonna stay in the nest for a bit, so I wondered over to one of the lakes to see who was around. The morning sounds were so loud! The geese were honking, the chickadees were calling and even the great blue herons were squawking.
Here's a few early morning pics.....

After enjoying the birds on the lake, I headed back to the owl nest. I walked across the bridge and noticed 2 squawking crows. Crows will take any opportunity to harass the owls, so I looked in all the trees for Sonny the owl. I didn't see anything at first but as I got closer to the small stream, I saw a smallish gray figure. What the heck? It was Sonny standing in the creek! The water was only 1-2 inches deep but he seemed to be enjoying it. Maybe he was taking a bath? The whole scene played out so fast that I wasn't able to get a pic....bummer! That would be a fun pic to get for sure! Sonny had flown into a nearby tree, so I hung out observing for a bit. Finally he flew over to the nest area and settled in for the day.

Cher was still in the nest, so I headed back over to the lake to see who was there. There a bunch of mallards, a few killdeer and a nice group of pelicans.

I headed back to the owl nest again and saw that Cher was now out of the nest and perched in a nearby tree. She looked pretty tired!

I hung out for a bit hoping to get a flight shot as she went back to the nest. But she seemed to be settling in for a nap, so I headed home to eat breakfast.

I got home, ate breakfast and planned to take Molly for a hike. We decided to back to see the owls as there's a nice area for Molly to be off leash.

Cher was still perched on her branch, so I was glad I didn't wait too long for that flight shot.

I got a few baby shots while Cher was napping....OMG! They are sooo cute!

A woodpecker was pecking a bit too close to the owl nest. Cher was wide awake and watching out for the kids. Before I knew it she took flight and headed back to the nest. I managed to grab a few flight shots...yahoo!

After Cher was back in the nest, she posed for a few shots. Then she did a bit of remodeling around the nest. I had never seen her do that before but she was actually biting off pieces of wood that were sticking up in front of the nest.

Here are bunch of pics of Cher....