[cobirds] Mama GHO in west Longmont

For the past three years, I've been monitoring three raptor nests on the corner of 75th and Nelson in west Longmont for the City of Longmont. There is a grove of birch and elm trees that has grown steadily thicker over the years as the property has been uninhabited. Great-horned Owls and Red-tail Hawks have nested in the trees. Just south of the grove is the Osprey platform that the city erected when the birds began building on our emergency siren four years ago. Those birds have taken a lot of dead branches from the trees in the grove to build their nest.

Because it's private property, all of my observations have been from the road. Last year, I found the owls with one young in the southern section of the grove, so this year, I've been scanning that section, looking for the owls, but no luck. Two days ago, as I came to the intersection of 75th and Nelson, I noticed a head sticking out of the Red-tail nest. Thinking it was pretty early for RTH to be sitting on eggs, so I grabbed my bincos and lo and behold, it's the mama GHO! She has take over the RTH nest!  The hawks are still hanging around, might peeved, I would imagine. I'm curious to see where that pair goes to build because they've occupied this nest for at least a decade.

You can see Mama Owl from 75th, just south of the corner, or directly across from her on the south side of Nelson (narrow shoulder, beware). The nest is easily visible, you can't miss it, but there are a lot of branches that can obscure your view of the bird, so I find Nelson to be my best vantage point.

Kat Bradley-Bennett

Longmont

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