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This is one of several old granaries they’re always raised in and the owl is one of the pair of adult birds that has been on the farm for years. These owls aren’t particularly fond of being “watched” but they almost never fly off when they’ve had enough\u00a0gawking. They just turn around and hop onto\u00a0one of the rafters in the\u00a0darkness of the interior and I never bother them in there. I allow them their\u00a0sanctuary.<\/p>\n
This owl was in the process of turning around before hopping onto an interior\u00a0rafter which is why its tail is spread and its upper legs are better defined than usual. It’s ear tufts are bent by the omnipresent Montana springtime breeze (breeze beats the hell out of the wind that’s so common in the area). And you’ll notice that I caught\u00a0the nictitating membrane\u00a0of its left eye partially open\/closed.<\/p>\n
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At dawn or dusk I can find their chicks almost anywhere although they spend most of their daylight hours inside the granaries. On this early\u00a0evening I found this youngster at the base of one of the corners of the same granary its nest had been in (and the same granary in the previous photo).<\/p>\n Maybe this bird looks angry or\u00a0threatening but it was only yawning as it squinted into the late afternoon sun.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’ll use the next two photos to set the stage for the last one. This adult was calling, probably to its mate though I had no idea where the other bird was. The perch might look like the top of\u00a0a utility pole but it isn’t.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s one of the large\u00a0poles set into the ground to support a two-story kid’s fort that was never completed. The adult in the previous photo was perched on\u00a0top of the pole on the left. I took this shot one evening when I stepped out of the house to enjoy the sunset and\u00a0looked toward the distant fort and noticed the silhouettes of two adult owls. Both birds were facing the sunset colors as if they were enjoying them. I’ll bet they were.<\/p>\n But adults aren’t the only owls to enjoy sunrises and sunsets\u00a0from the fort which is some distance away from any granary that owls use for nesting. Notice the ladder leading up to the second floor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/great-horned-owl-1755b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-horned-owl-1755b-ron-dudley\\"")
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