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Bird Lovers Corner
Pat Westheuser, a director of Central Okanagan Naturalists Club, can be reached at 769-6605, or email:
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Question: I have heard an owl hooting in the trees near my house. Can you tell me what kind of owl it would be?
Answer: It is probably a Great Horned Owl. These birds frequent developed areas, where there are lots of trees, providing them shelter and a place to hide during the day, and at night they will call from the very top of the same tree, and if you listen carefully you may hear another owl answer nearby. They are particularly vocal at this time of the year, as their breeding cycle has started.
The Great Horned Owl hunts mostly rodents and other small creatures, but they are opportunists and will take pheasants, quail or skunk and even bigger mammals like rabbits, and cats. Their silence on the wing derives from a structural modification to the first primary feather on each wing. The forward edge of the feather is serrated rather than smooth, which has the effect of disrupting the flow or air over the wing in flight and eliminating the vortex noise created by airflow over a smooth surface. Silent and deadly, they also have acute eye sight and hearing, something you might expect of a nocturnal hunter. Some species of owl have asymmetrical openings to their ears, located behind the big facial eye discs. These discs act like a reflector, channeling sound to the ear, permitting the bird to accurately locate its prey by sound alone, even under snow.
An adult Great Horned Owl is about 22" long, with a wingspan of 44". On average they weigh about 1∏ kg (3 lbs), and come in a wide variety of color from dark brown to grey. They have needle sharp talons and a strong hooked bill. Sitting on a perch, owls can swivel their heads a full 180 degrees and see in all directions without moving the body. They will use the same nest for a number of years, be it a stick nest built by other birds such as magpie, raven, or hawk in the Ponderous Pine, Douglas Fir or Aspen trees; or a much more basic nest like a hole on a cliff face, or a cavity on tree, where a large branch has been broken off. Two or three eggs will be laid about mid February, so that the young will hatch as the snow disappears, and food will be plentiful.
Another interesting biological aspect is the pellet they regurgitate. A rodent or bird is swallowed whole, and remains in the bird's crop until all the nourishment has been extracted. Fur, bones, bills and feet (anything that cannot be digested) are compressed into a hard package of fur and feathers, called a pellet. These are regurgitated, and if you know of a popular roosting area for a Great Horned Owl, look on the ground under the roost. If you find a pellet, take it apart to see what these magnificent birds are eating. |
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