Owl in the family? Residents of Hilton Head nest featured on webcam given historic names
The pair of great horned owls who have unwittingly become stars on a Hilton Head webcam with their newly hatched owlets now have names: Bayley and Joshua.
The Hilton Head Island Land Trust, which manages the Raptor Cam mounted in a tree near the nest, announced the names Thursday night.
As with 2021 residents of the nest, a pair of bald eagles named Harriet and Mitch, and two ospreys who called the nest home in 2023 and were given the monikers Charles and Charlotte, the great horned owls were named for significant figures in Hilton Head’s history. Over the years, the Raptor Cam has drawn more than 1.3 million views from all over the world.
The female owl is named in honor of John Bayley of Ballinclough, County Tipperary, Ireland, according to a news release from the Land Trust. In 1698, Bayley was granted a 48,000-acre barony which included Hilton Head. This land remained in possession of the Bayley family until roughly 1722 when it was divided into parcels, with many of the boundaries remaining recognizable today.
The male owl is named for Gen. Joshua Howell, after the namesake of Ft. Howell on Hilton Head. Howell was killed early during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864. The 32nd U.S. Colored Infantry constructed the fort to protect the nearby Freedmen’s town of Mitchelville and it was named for Howell.
The owls, who were first spotted in the nest in September 2023, are tending two babies that hatched earlier this week. Their names are HH5 and HH6 because they are the fifth and sixth hatchlings in the Raptor Cam’s history. HH5 hatched at 10:09 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, and HH6 hatched at 3 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 8.
Viewers can watch the new family on the Raptor Cam at hhilandtrust.org.
What’s next?
At about five weeks, the young owls may be able to leave the nest or perch on branches close by, according to Audubon. After nine or 10 weeks, the babies can take flight. But mom and dad are nearby and for many months will supply their rapidly growing owlets with food — everything from rats to other birds and snakes.
While the owlets bulk up and learn the ropes, they will grow at about 4-8 grams an hour and at a rate of 1-inch per week beginning from the time they hatch and continuing as juveniles to adults, the land trust said. Their fast growth, however, is dependent on good health and enough food-intake.
Once full-grown, great horned owls’ inborn anatomy makes them exceptional hunters — with their sharp eyesight, strong hearing and the ability to soar up to 40 mph in near-silence, the land trust said.
Reporter Sarah Haselhorst contributed to this report.
