A mind-blowing morning: watching a mother owl feeding three owlets!

I had been on 'owlet watch' for about an hour and not much was going on.  Being a birder though, means developing patience (something that is not always my strong suit). Instead of packing up because nothing was happening I stayed put, and I was rewarded with what is probably my best birding experience yet. The mother owl flew towards the nest with her wings spread wide open, and in her talons she was carrying what looked to be a rabbit. She sat on the edge of the nest observing her surroundings with a hint of paranoia, as if something was going to swoop in and take her prize. What happened next should probably have a warning label. She started pulling pieces off of the rabbit and feeding it to the owlets, primarily focusing on one it seemed. Luckily I had started a video and I had the camera mounted on the tripod. In retrospect, this feeding lasted 9 minutes and change and my poor arms would have been aching for weeks had I not been using the tripod.  If the camera had been hand-held, the video would have been unusable from all the unsteadiness/shaking. The parents at this point must have been hunting for food non-stop, as the owlets now have a lot of their flight feathers and probably  ravenous appetites like teenagers, I suppose. At one point, one of the owlets jumped out to the edge of the nest, which was super cool. (as seen in top picture) The whole experience was truly awesome and my adrenaline level was 'off the charts.' Towards the end of nine minutes, the mother owl turned her back to me and eventually flew off with what remained of the rabbit. Now I have this video to show you but right now, in it's current state, its over a gig and won't easily fit anywhere, so I'm left spending a few hours on how to remedy this situation. Hopefully a few still pictures will tide you over unitl I figure this out. 




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