Great Horned Owl makes quite the hoot in winter
Comments (...)Just before bed the last several nights I had been taking Maci outside. As I stood alone in the dark with her, the night sky would fill my thoughts. The stars have been brilliant and the moon magnificent. Everything is so still, and then the silence is cut.
The hoo-hooing travels through the woods like a ghostly messenger. It lingers in the air and dissipates into nothing. Yet, before total silence can cover the woods again, another hoot is heard, this one more pronounced and purposeful than the last. In a matter of seconds the woods comes to life with the constant calling between birds. Then in hits me. The Great Horned Owl is in the middle of its breeding season.
This very solitary owl is not so lonely in the middle of winter. Males and females will call to each other starting about dusk and continue well into the night. Before long, couples will find each other and begin their courtship. That would be a rough time of year to start a family.
Great Horned Owls do not build their own nests. I always think that this is an interesting aspect of a species. Either they are too lazy to prepare a home or they realize that they are the proverbial big kid on the block, so building a nest should be left to lesser species. Great Horned Owls usually take the nests of larger birds such as hawks or herons but they have also been known to take over a squirrels abode as well.
I didn’t realize it, but the Great Horned Owl has quite a wide range of vocalizations. Depending on what is going on in the bird’s life, they will alter their pitch and volume. They can make shrieks and cackles if they are bothered by intruders. They also can make a cat meowing type of call. Once I read about this, it occurred to me that I have heard this sound fairly often but always related that vocal pattern with raccoons, since they will do that as well. I’m sure now that some of these sounds were coming from the owls. If you really want to impress your friends, listen carefully for the pitch of the owls hoot. The males do have a noticeably lower voice than the females.
The owls will lay anywhere from two to four eggs. They incubate for about a month before they hatch. During this time, the parents are extremely aggressive and will fend off intruders violently. Often times the owls will attack the intruder until the unwanted guest is dead!
After a few weeks the fledglings start to wobble around and venture out onto the branches surrounding the nest. The parents do keep an eye on them during this time, but they are expected to manage on their own quickly. Throughout the summer they often will maintain a loose family group but by fall the young leave and stake out their own territory. They have been known to fly as far as 150 miles from where they were born to find a place they can call their own.
Owls will tend to maintain one territory year-after-year. Their home turf will cover about one square mile. While the owls pair up during the breeding season that is the only time they do so. During the rest of the year they are solitary animals.
The Great Horned Owls are very adept at surviving. Their natural range occurs from the far northern territory in Canada clear south into Central America and South America. These birds do not migrate, however owls in the far northern ranges have been known to fly slightly farther south during the coldest part of the winter.
The other reason for these creatures success has been the fact that they really have no real predators. Sure, they will attack other owls, but for the most part man is the Great Horned’s only real threat. Not only are these owls found across a vast range, they are also plentiful within that range. I can hear Great Horned Owls just about every night from my own front yard.
They also do quite well around mankind. They use old abandoned buildings, barns, and other manmade structures for nesting areas, as well as trees. Even though we may not actually see a Great Horned Owl since they are nocturnal, we do hear them all the time.
As you are out and about during the evening hours, take a few moments and listen to see if you can hear our majestic feathered neighbors. They are more vocal right now than they will be most of the rest of the year. Enjoy their serenades to each other. The calling of a Great Horned Owl is one of nature’s gifts to all of us.
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