The Owl Family

I work in a remote area way out on Kirtland AFB against the foothills of the Manzano Mountains. There is a resident family of great horned owls that makes our place their home, and all of us are thrilled to have them around. The pair of owls usually produces only one baby a year, but this year there were two chicks. They've been the talk of the campus for weeks as we watched mama owl faithfully sit on the eggs till they hatched, then protected her babies from predators and the elements until they were ready to fly a few days ago. The first picture shows mama and the babies at just two weeks. The little guy in the picture above (four weeks, about 15" tall) managed to fly over to the willow tree just outside my building, and he was there all day watching passers-by. We'll miss him when he takes off for good, all too soon.