SURROGATE FATHER TO A FAMILY OF GREAT GRAY OWLETS

Rancher, conservationists and owl-lovers, Andy Huber and his wife are co-parenting a family of Great Gray Owls. The Hubers own a ranch near Le Grande in northeastern Oregon’s Blue Mountains. This spring a couple of GGOs began raising a family. One tragic morning the Hubers awoke to see Great Gray Owl feathers scattered on the ground…overnight a Great Horned Owl had killed and eaten the male GGO. That left a widowed GGO with a nestful to raise. The Hubers pitched in. Friends loaned them live traps with which to catch small mammals. The adult female quickly learned to grab the offered prey. Many weeks of maturing are ahead of the fledglings but the Hubers persist. Here is a selection of photos of the Huber owls:

There is a quartet of owlets in this family and each can eat four small mammals per day, that’s a lot of huntin’ and trappin’ … for weeks. These youngster will not be effective hunters until very late summer at the earliest. Most abundant prey at that spot right now is kangaroo mice.

My new book on Great Gray Owls of California, Oregon and Washington is now available. Order yours direct from me, $28 plus shipping, over 100 photos and original range maps. More on earlier blog on this website.