I’d met (and photographed) their parents before, but I had never met the Barred Owl babies at the Orlando Wetlands.
That changed during an evening trip to the wetlands with my friend and former colleague Red Huber. I was giving him a little tour of the wetlands, and I decided to see if we could find the owlets.
As we hiked toward their nesting area, I kept looking around for their parents. I didn’t spot them, but did spy one of the owlets sitting alone on top of an old palm tree. After getting a few pictures of it, the young owl flew to a nearby tree, landing right next to its sibling.
Yes! We had found both baby owls.
Red and I spent some time photographing the babies and hoping for the sun to come out from behind some clouds to get betting lighting. That never happened, but we were able to get some good shots of the owls.
I’ve read that the young Barred Owls will stay close to their nest for the first six months of their lives, often not straying far from their sibling’s side. And these two certainly fit that description.
We never saw their parents, but the kids seemed to be doing just fine.
