5 replies to this topic

[cwj2323]

I am definitely not a night person, unless I am near sleep and I hear an unusual bird sound, then my ears perk right up, trying to figure out what it is.  This just happened Friday night.  I listened to my bird CD in the morning and discovered it was a Great Horned Owl.  Between my husband and I, we heard it four nights in a row.  That first night was the earliest it started hooting, but the other times it was much later. We couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was.  I thought a nearby tree, my husband wonders if it was on the roof.

If it comes by again (It's been quiet for a couple days now) what are some things we can do to possibly see it? 

Thank you.

[creeker]

If you go outside just after dark, and play that cd, I'll bet he responds. Then you can easily locate him. I used to have a pair nesting in the yard of my old house, they weren't shy. I could just go outside when they were hooting, and easily locate them. That was on 5 acres, with lots of trees.

[Harrier]

I don't know if you know of the property where it is staying, but if you go out in the daytime and look for the roost tree (marked by lots of pellets and poop), you can sometimes look up and see the sleeping owl. Remember when calling in birds to respect them and give them time for privacy-- don't ring their doorbell and run off.

[cwj2323]

I am popping this back up to update and ask a couple questions.

We've never seen this particular Great Horned Owl, but we continue hearing it off and on. In the shortest winter days, we heard it (strangely) around 4:30 pm and sometimes after 7am. It was always coming from northeast of our place. Maybe there is a nest along the creek. ?? In the overnight hours sometimes it does sound like it is in the yard, or very close.

Last Friday, our 5 year old found this pellet in the yard. I messed with it trying to determine what animal was eaten. It looks to be a small rodent- mouse or vole. At was about the size of a quarter before I messed with it.


When I asked him exactly where he found it. He could only say, "The ground". Sigh... An older child was outside when it was found and gave me a general idea. We looked for more pellets, but couldn't find any.

Do Great Horned Owls ever eat prey as small as mice? I know raptors cough up pellets, so it could be one of them. The other raptors we have seen within the last month are the Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk. We've never seen any of the smaller owls around here. Not to say they aren't. I know this is a long shot, but there's no way to determine what hacked this up, is there?

[spookyjimjams]

I saw a GH Owl yesterday morning and 2 over the weekend. There are a lot here in the East Bay of CA. Owls seem to have a funny way of "throwing" their voice. Sometimes it is difficult to pinpoint where they are sitting while hooting. Most of the times that I see GH Owls hooting, they are on the tip of the corner of a building. My experience is that they are fairly quiet while sitting in the trees unless they are at the tip top of one. In the day they will sit on a branch that may not even be much of a shelter. They don't hide in tree hollows. I see them dozing out on open branches often.

They will eat anything that they can catch, including small rodents. I would make the guess that since you heard them hooting, and then found a pellet, it was probably the same bird. I know that they are very aggressive towards other owls, especially Barn Owls, and will routinely kill all of the Barn Owls in the area. Here we find the torn off heads of the Barn Owls around work. Nasty, but that's nature for you!

Kudos on having the guts to sift through an owl pellet. Most people cringe, but I think that it is very interesting to see what they ate.

[creeker]

Hmmm, that does look like an owl pellet, but quarter size is pretty small for a Great-horned's pellet. They're usually two inches long. Could be a part of one's pellet. Hawk pellets are usually more compact and smaller/ thinner. Great-horneds will eat mice and such. It's pretty much anything goes.