A Barred Owl pair with two fledged owlets has been seen regularly from the boardwalk at Beidler Forest. We spotted just this one youngster taking short flights in the limbs above us.
The owlet was curious about the humans passing on the boardwalk below him, not bothered by our presence. A school group of about twenty-five kids and chaperones had just passed and a few of their stragglers stopped with us to watch the chick.
The Center for Birds of Prey has an active breeding program. The chicks they raise are used in educational programs here and also are swapped to other similar facilities around the US.
These cuties were not on the schedule for our Photography Day, but conditions were good for these two Spectacled Owl chicks to come out and strut their stuff.
Well, mostly they just sat; they could walk and did a little wing flapping. I neglected to note how old they are, somewhere in the few week range.
Cuteness times two:
The Center for Birds of Prey offers photographers an opportunity to take close-up photographs of owls and other birds of prey a few times a year.
The Center for Birds of Prey, Photography Day, April 22, 2018, Awenda, SC.
