I photographed this family of great gray owls just a mile from my southwestern Montana home. I began searching for their nest in early February and eventually found them. Great grays will often nest in what is known as a broken top, typically a Douglas fir that’s lost its top half. But if no broken top is available, which is all too common today due to logging taking out most large, old trees, they will sometimes use a raven or goshawk nest, as they did here.
My good friend, Denver Holt of the Owl Research Institute, helped me through the best practices for putting up my blind. Our main goal was to ensure that my presence wasn’t bothersome to the owl family. All went well, and this is just one of the many images I captured over an approximately two-month period. Check out the Owl Research Institute and support their work with a donation.