My owl friends: Cher is on the nest!

Sweet! It's official! Cher is on the nest! And they are using the same nest for the 4th year in a row! All the books say they use the same nest for maybe 2 years in a row. Guess Sonny and Cher do not read those books........
It is the perfect spot both for them and us photographers. So I'm looking forward to some amazing baby pics just like I got the last two years.

I decided to get up early and go over to see the owls. So I got over there around 7am. There was Cher.......

And Sonny was very close by........

So the eggs will incubate for about 30-35 days. Once the chicks hatch, they will be in the nest for about 6 weeks. So the baby owls should be out of the nest by the end of April. Once they are out the nest, they are called branchers. That is because they can not fly, so they use their very strong talons to climb into the trees. They they start learning how to fly.......
Oh yeah, it's gonna be a fun time watching these guys. Last year Cher didn't lay her eggs until the beginning of March. So by the time the babies were out of the nest, all the leaves were in full bloom which made getting photos challenging. Since this is a month earlier, I should be able to get some good shots!

I hung around for a few minutes since it was a beautiful morning. Sonny drifted off to sleep as I headed out. He is gonna be a busy boy. Cher will stay in the nest almost 24/7 with brief breaks at night to stretch. So Sonny will do most of the hunting for him and Cher. And then he will bring food for the babies when they hatch.....whew! I'm tired just thinking about the work he will do :)

On the way home I decided to stop by a nice hiking trail near the Boulder Creek. Was pretty quiet except for a couple of kingfishers. They are quite entertaining....