For the past several weeks, this GHO has been perched right below, what we think is its nest (See http://www.pbase.com/hankvv/image/149136150 ) To my knowledge, no one has yet seen an owl on the nest as the top is quite obscured from view. Today, the owl was perched on the other side of the tree on a branch some 5 meters lower. Again it was sleeping, but when a troupe of about 20 very noisy school children came along, it opened its eyes for a considerable time to check what all the noise was about, thus giving us a great photo-op.

We discovered an other thing today. There is an owl, apparently nesting on top of an old broken-off tree trunk some 25 meters from the tree where the above owl has been perching/guarding for the past several weeks. Only one ear tuft, and sometimes the end of the tail were visible at the top of the broken-off trunk. I was there early morning and again late afternoon. All this time this owl stayed (almost out of sight) up on top of this 60cm +/_ diameter broken tree trunk, some 20 meters above the ground. My guess is that this is the nest site and not the large nest below which the other owl has been perching/guarding for the past several weeks. Reportedly, however, three GHOs have been seen in the area. Two adults and one juvenile, so could there be two nests - one for Mom and one for junior?????. Not likely, in my view. STAY TUNED!

Following is an image that shows the Owl's tail projecting (top left) just above the top edge of the broken off tree trunk. This was taken late afternoon. When I was there in the morning, only an ear tuft was visible.