The next visit to Mt Auburn was in early May 2011. After wandering around for a couple of hours without seeing much of interest, I happened to see a small crowd of people clustered around a tree with caution tape around it. My curiosity piqued, I wandered over to see what everyone was looking at. A few minutes of staring blankly at the tree turned up nothing, so I decided to ask my fellow observers what the big deal was.

Turns out that it was the nest of a Great Horned Owl with two young chicks. After much pointing and squinting, I finally managed to locate the mother and got a few decent shots, including a humorous wink! Unfortunately the chicks were huddled up and getting any shots worth seeing was next to impossible. With the location firmly fixed in my mind, I resolved to keep coming back until I the chicks were more obliging.