Even at such a young age, this part of the owl is less huggable than the previous post. While driving the auto tour at Ridgefield this past May, I came across a few people who had stopped in the forest. Two great horned owls had just fledged, one had taken its first flight but this one wasn’t quite so eager to test its wings.

This is the first shot I took, unfortunately it was severely overexposed but while I took more pictures of the owl, it never again looked at me, apparently unimpressed by my beak and talons. One of the parents was keeping a close eye on its young charge, who was more in a mood to sleep than to learn to fly.

I didn’t see it take the leap that day but for the next month the two young owls could be seen from the road, although much farther into the forest, with one of the adults always close by.