My owl friends: Happy Earth Day

I do enjoy going out photographing on Earth day. And thanks to Facebook, I saw my memories today of past Earth Day blogs. Pretty cool! So yes I did go out photographing today but let's go back to what happened yesterday......

As you may recall, I am on high alert waiting for the oldest owlet to leave the nest. They typically leave the nest sometime during the night( their day time). So in years past, I've gone over first thing in the morning and have been rewarded with some " first morning" pics

that no one else has. So as I headed over today( Thursday) I was excited to see if the owlet was out and about.

I was almost to where I liked to park and the car ahead me parked there. WTH! No one but another photographer would park there at 6 am, so I drove another block and parked the car. Then walked up the stairs toward the east lake. It was a longer way to the owl nest but I figured if I hustled I could beat the other photographer to the nest and quickly scope out the situation. I have to admit I was pissed! The early morning time was MY TIME with the owls.

As I headed for the nest, I spotted Sonny sitting in a tree by the path. I said hi and continued on. I did get to the nest first and quickly saw both owlets were still in the nest. Okay! That was good, so I was able to relax.

I spotted Cher sitting in her usual spot and I knew where Sonny was. So all was well. The photographer finally showed up with his gigantic camera and tripod. I didn't know who he was and didn't want to. We both said "good morning" but I was not in the mood for chit chat. So I headed back to see Sonny.

Sonny is one handsome dude!

Well not much was going on, so I decided to head home and get Hazel dog out for our hike.

I decided to take the long way home and was lucky enough to see this bald eagle near coot lake.

Made it home, grabbed Hazel and headed to the rez. On the way, I spotted a couple of mule deer in the park on Folsom.....

Then while hiking, I got a quick shot of this red tailed hawk.....

and this osprey......

Hazel and I headed home for breakfast and I needed to get ready for work. My friend Mary called around 10:30am and said she had been to the owl nest and one of the owlets was out! What???? They normally leave during the night! Crap! I would have loved to seen that!
I later found out she left around 9:30am and there were a few people there to see it.

Oh well, Maybe I'll get to see the next owlet leave.....

So now it's Earth Day! I decided to get there really early. I was up at 5am, fed Hazel and the kitties and zipped over there. It was still pretty dark but I did see Cher fly up with some rabbit and feed her kid!
My friends and I like to name the owlets when they leave the nest. So we decided on Sky! She got that name because she was already high up in one of the cottonwood trees. At least 50 ft up in the air. Pretty impressive as it usually takes the owlets at least a few days or longer to climb up that high.

Not a great pic but you can see Sky getting breakfast.....

I noticed the moon was getting ready to set, so grabbed a pic....

Now the sun was up and shining on Cher.....

One owlet left in the nest.....

and Sonny was across the path napping.....

I also had to go check on the potential flicker nest. There was lots of activity, so hopefully I will get to see baby flickers this summer. Thanks for pointing that out Teddi!