Normally Harold Wilion is just sharing his photos with us, but in this story, he becomes a part of the action!

One of the more interesting weeks I’ve had as a wildlife photographer. Earlier in the week I got a somewhat panicked call from a buddy telling me one of the Great Horned owlets we’ve been watching fell out of the nest and was now sitting on the ground, right in the middle of a walking path. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem as GH owlets are known for these kinds of exits, and generally you aren’t supposed to go near them as they will eventually make the way over to a tree and climb up. But this was a very heavily used trail by dogwalkers, and there is just no way we could leave him there. A call to James Joyce was made, who handles these situations all the time. His advice was to have him picked up and checked out before being returned to make sure he wasn’t injured. So, James, a certified wildlife Uber driver, came by and picked up the owl and brought it to Cape Ann Wildlife. It was checked out and delivered back to the site the next morning by James.

Then tree climber extraordinaire, Andrew Joslin, got to work. This guy literally climbs trees easier than I can walk on a sidewalk. The trees in the area presented some challenges and it took him a while to rig up. But the end result was this owl was back up on a high branch. It was fed by an adult not more than an hour after being placed in the tree. Of course, much thanks go out to Andrew, James, and a couple photographer friends that helped out, knew who to call and just plain got the job done.

One more word about Andrew. This guy can literally spend entire days doing this and is not compensated. Can you imagine someone having so much love for wildlife and tree climbing that he does this and no one pays him a cent!? He is on FB, and does videos of his rescues. And if any of you appreciates him literally risking his life every single day for an animal, you may want to think about making a donation to him and his cause. You may also consider donations to James and Cape Ann.

And to ramp up the fun even more, the other owlet fell out of the nest while his sibling was being put back, but that’s a story for another day and sure hope posts some of his photos of that event as they are some of the most amazing photos I’ve ever seen! So, on to these photos. This owl just sat in the middle of a large path for hours as we watched to make sure no trail walkers or dogs got too close to him as the light changed. He seemed to be totally unfazed about the few of us that were there, and mostly just closed his eyes while I waited for them to open to grab some quick shots. That is until James got there and passed a certain line as he inched closer to the owl to net him and put him in a box. The last photo shows what an owl looks like when it’s in their defensive posture. They do this bill clicking thing that is amazing to hear as it is so loud. And while all this was going on, the adults came by to watch the commotion and I was able to get some great shots of them that will post later.

Hopefully CM will post the video he did of the owl being netted as I think it’s insane. And a big thank you to KN that saw what was going on and placed himself under the owl as it was about to fall in case he needed to sacrifice himself to break its fall. Fortunately, after pinballing his way down, he was able to land on a high branch. He was napping like he didn’t have a care in the world not long after. The owlets have now officially fledged, are nowhere to be found, and we all pray for their safety, especially considering our recent weather. Stay tuned for more photos from me and a few other photographers.