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Inside an owl nest

Owl Research Institute

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a Great Gray Owl nest looks like? So have we - however, these nests are often far too high for us to peek into (some of the Great Gray Owl nests ORI has located have been 80 feet high in a tree!).

Luckily, with the use of aerial photography, ORI has captured some photos of the inside of old Great Gray Owl nests after the adults and young had all departed the area. This way, we can get a better idea of what the owls are looking for in a nest site. Enjoy this unique view!

8 comments

  • Looks cozy - how long do owls use a nest for? Do they return back to a nest made in a previous season, or do they make a new nest each year like some birds?

    • Excellent question, and I hope I can answer that to your satisfaction, because this is one of those questions where the answer is: it depends.

      I found this article and here's the most relevant snippet:

      Do great horned owls nest in the same place every year?

      Great horned owls might use the same nesting site year after year if it does not deteriorate too much. Most nests that are adopted from other birds do not last more than a single season but sometimes they will hold up for several years. This depends, in part, on where and how the nest was built, with some nests lasting up to a decade.

      There's a lot of good insight in that article, about the Great Horned specifically, but all owls reuse nests.

      Red Tailed Hawk nests are a popular choice for the larger owls since they're about the same size.

      This lucky owl has taken over a bald eagle nest. This one looks very sturdy.

      This one just looks uncomfortable for the adults! I hope there is more headroom than there appears.

      The owls will do some light site prep and initial maintenance, but home building and repair is not a skill they possess.

      This is again another reason we need to preserve OLD forests. The more trees we cut down with holes, crevices, and old nests, the less places these owls have to go. They can do their daily roosting wherever they want, but to reproduce, they need an existing place to move into.

      • As always, appreciate your comment!! Very interesting to learn that there are (in rare cases) nests that last up to a decade. That's an impressive nest

  • I spent way too long looking for the owl in this picture.

  • What do they do when it rains? Get wet? Lol

    • It sounds funny to us as humans, but it seems that's exactly what they do.

      I saw a few articles about Burrowing Owls in the rain, but not about the larger ones with nests like these in the photos. So I found this nice article on hawks. It's a nice article and has lots of funny pics.

      "Where do the hawks sleep on windy, rainy nights?

      When they sleep, they turn their heads around and tuck them into the fluffed-up feathers of the back. A sleeping hawk looks morbidly headless. On rainy, windy, or otherwise unfavorable nights red-tails typically fly into a large hardwood tree, perch on a horizontal limb that allows the toes to wrap around the branch and grip it.

      If they're not nesting, they have more options available to get shelter, but if there are eggs or babies, they don't have much choice but to stay. They nest and raise young for about three months. The rest of the year, they sleep and hang out at different locations.

      While hanging out in a storm can be tough, it teaches them how to survive it. The adults will shelter the babies, and they tuck their heads into their feathers. They're at least a bit water resistant, but not quite waterproof like some birds. Lighter rains can be enjoyed by the owls, as seen in the other day's video of the Little Owl getting sprayed down. Wild birds get parasites in their feathers because they are fluffy and warm, and this can help wash them out.

8 comments