ANN ARBOR, MI - High in a tree in Ann Arbor's Eberwhite Woods, in what likely used to be a squirrel nest, a mother great horned owl watched over her two owlets on Tuesday, April 11.

A crow swooped in to harass her, and the mother flew to a nearby tree to keep the cawing bird away from her nest. Crows have a history of antagonizing great horned owls during the day, because the owls are the crows' main predator at night.

The family of four owls - a male, female and two babies - has attracted a group of followers over the past few months, including Jenna Munson, who visits them multiple times a day. Munson works in the University of Michigan's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and lives near the Eberwhite Woods, which cover 32 acres between Liberty and Abordale streets, just west of downtown Ann Arbor.

Munson's children are in first and third grade at Eberwhite Elementary School, and the woods are school property. She's led the school's third-grade Science Olympiad team in studying the owls as they prepare for the "feathered friends" bird identification event at the science competition.

"Great horned owls are the only ones in this latitude band that will nest in the winter, because their babies need so long to develop," Munson said Tuesday afternoon, stopping by to check on the owls on her way to pick up her children from school. "So she has been on the nest since probably early January, but nobody knows exactly how early and nobody knows exactly when they hatched."

Munson first spotted the owls on their nest on Feb. 7. Great horned owls in southeast Michigan begin laying eggs in late January or early February, said David Clipner, wildlife program director at the Leslie Science and Nature Center in Ann Arbor.

This is about the time of year the owlets will "fledge," he said, which means they develop their flight feathers and muscles. Munson and the Science Olympiad team made a few signs posted throughout Eberwhite Woods asking people to keep their dogs on leashes because the baby owls will be leaving the nest soon and cannot fly well at first.

"Pretty soon the babies are going to be branching out ... and that's a really vulnerable time for them," said Juliet Berger, ornithologist for the Natural Area Preservation division of Ann Arbor's Parks and Rec department. "The dogs off leash is a huge problem there."

If people see an owlet on the ground, they should not approach the bird, Berger added.

Eberwhite Elementary School Principal Bill Harris said his students have enjoyed learning about the owls, and teachers have taken their classes to see the nest since Munson brought it to their attention.

"We consider ourselves really fortunate to have the Eberwhite Woods right on our campus, and we try to take advantage of it periodically throughout the year," Harris said. "They're really intrigued (by the owls). I think they're beginning to understand that it's really a unique opportunity and it's really special."

The owlets will stay with their parents for a couple more months while they learn to hunt, Clipner said. By the end of the fall, the young owls will spread out to find their own territories.

Great horned owls are monogamous and defend their territory fiercely, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Munson believes the father of the Eberwhite owlets attacked and killed another great horned owl that came too close to the nest, and the body was sent to the Leslie Science and Nature Center.

"One day my friend was in (Eberwhite Woods) and the mom was on the nest. She saw two males over there, and the next day they found a dead male in the pines," Munson said. "So the presumption is the dad had gone after the other male and killed him."

Clipner plans to prepare the deceased owl as an educational specimen, preserving a wing, some bones or the feet to be used in presentations on great horned owls.

Great horned owls prey on a variety of small animals, Berger said, including skunks. That's because the owls don't have a sense of smell.

She knows of three pair of great horned owls that live in the Ann Arbor area, though there are likely more. This is the first time the city has been aware of the great horned owls nest in Eberwhite Woods, Berger added, and the couple roosted in nearby Zion Park over the winter.

Now you can help name the Eberwhite owlets! Select one of the options below or add your own suggestion. The poll will close at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 20, and the owlets' names will be announced then.