A Padre Island family who hosted a nesting Great Horned Owl and her babies on their back patio received a special goodbye before the birds took to the skies.
The story began in February when the mother owl nested on a ledge in Jess and Heather Slaughter's backyard. She laid three eggs in the area. The Migratory Bird Act of 1918 made it illegal to remove the owls.
Jess and Heather Slaughter watched the owls grow from three small eggs in February until they were ready to leave the nest.
"We watched these birds be born and we watched them raise up and grow," Heather Slaughter said.
Before flying away for good, the owls returned to the house. One owl stood at the back window for 20 minutes, calmly observing the family.
"The owl is literally standing right here at my back window. I sat down, starting taking pictures and videos of it. It never budged or moved. It never got frustrated or anything. It was just sitting there blinking at me," Slaughter said.
Slaughter's daughter felt the bird was showing gratitude.
"So my daughter's like 'Mom it's telling you goodbye and thank you for giving it a good home to stay in,'" Slaughter said.
A few hours later, another baby owl appeared on the back patio.
"I opened the door and very slowly walked outside and walked toward it to see if it would fly off or what it would do. It just sat there staring at me," Slaughter said.
The mother owl also appeared outside the house later that night.
"I guess it was checking to make sure that its baby was okay.. but once that baby was out of that nest the mom was history," Slaughter said.
The experience created a unique bond between the family and nature.
"It was emotional," Slaughter said.
"You get to watch it fly from the nest and then it comes up here and sees you before it leaves. So it was pretty cool," Slaughter said.
The family looks forward to sharing their owl adventures for years to come.
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