Owlet in full size

Great Horned Owl 4/27/13  

I checked on the young Great Horned Owl again today. First I couldn't even find it, neither in the nest nor in one of the tall trees around it. While still walking around with my binoculars I suddenly discovered it right in front of me in a very small tree. We were looking at each other from eye to eye for quite some time. The owl didn't move a bit and even closed its eyes a few times. There was only a small gap between branches to get a picture without that a twig covered one of its eyes. I moved in very slowly in order to make this click. Calling the about six weeks old bird a "little owl" is kind of an understatement. My guess is that this owlet is about 20 inch (0.5 m) tall already. The background of this image is a nightmare but this doesn't bother me much this time. Having the owl in its full glory in the frame was another highlight this week for me.