Copyright © 1995, Don Baccus
All images copyright © 1995, Don Baccus
Great-horned owls are found nesting in stands of willow, cottonwood, and poplar as well as on cliff ledges in areas with rimrock. Early nesters, they often fledge their young before Memorial Day. After fledging, the young tend to develop favorite roosting spots near the nest site, but can be difficult to approach.
At night, they're found scattered around the area. A drive down the north half of the Refuge's Center Patrol Road after dark will often result in owls being flushed from the roadside or fenceposts. On many nights, Great-horned Owls can be heard calling from South Coyote Butte near the Malheur Field Station.
Great-horned Owl territories are extremely stable. If one of the nesting pair dies, a new bird pairs with the survivor. The Benson Pond nest site described below has been active since at least the late 1940s!
Great-horned Owls are fairly easy to photograph. Roosting birds can often be approached by moving slowly towards them. They're large enough that frame-filling shots are fairly easy to get with moderate telephotos. Chicks are often oblivious to human presence, however the parents can be very defensive!
One of my saddest personal photographic experiences happened while photographing a Great-horned Owl chick perched three feet from the ground on the trunk of a cottonwood tree. Both of my camera bodies broke before I was able to shoot a single frame!
By far the easiest great horned owls to photograph are the pair which reside in the oasis at the small town of Fields. The adults are darker than many pair in the area, and the kids are often the color of milk with a bit of coffee, rather than grey. This pair is also fond of perching on the ground, and allow very close approach. When perched on the ground or on downed wood, they can look surprisingly like cats. I've photographed the male adult of this pair perched at eye level, six feet away, at 200mm, handheld. I simply walked slowly and carefully towards it, and began banging away.
The pair at Fields are as easy to view as to photograph, but are nearly 100 miles south of the Malheur Field Station and about 50 miles south of Frenchglen!
There is also a pair that nests near the Malheur Refuge headquarters. They often nest in a nearby quarry, but approaching the nest site is difficult due to the steep pitch of the loose rock underneath. When the young have fledged, they are often found with the parents in the trees at headquarters itself, which due to the large numbers of Belding ground squirrels living there serves as the family's pantry.
Another pair nests annually at Benson Pond. The adults and young are normally quite tolerant of approach, but during the spring the willows in which they nest are often surrounded by water to a depth of a foot or so. Though easy to view, photographing them presents a challenge. The nest trees have been planted in a line and don't form a thick canopy, so lighting is uneven and on most days fill flash is a must.
Other pairs may be found along the Narrows-Princeton Road between the Center Patrol Road turnoff and headquarters, Diamond Craters, the town of Diamond, and numerous other places.
