Category Archives: Year 9

Nest in Sight! Great Horned Owl!

Year 9

Success! … at least almost. After over 20 nighttime hikes stumbling through snow that is over 3 feet deep, I found “Dad’s” daytime roost. By listening and tracking the evening hoot, I had narrowed down the forest nesting area. This is the fourth year I have watched this unique pair of Great Horned Owls raise owlets! While I did not find the nest this morning (went back this morning to the location of last night’s hoot), I know from experience the male always sits during the first few weeks within line of sight of the female / nest. I may not find the nest till the snow melts and the whitewash and owl pellets are more easily seen, but it is now only a matter of time! This winter has been particularly brutal as for most of my nighttime hikes, the temperature were well below zero.

Should you have Great Horned Owls hooting near your home, if you would like to watch them raise their young, now is the time to get out there at night and follow the hoot. Within 2 to 3 weeks the parents will stop hooting.

Great Horned Owl (father of Hoot)

Actually it has been a good week for owls. A few days ago when the winds were calm for 48 hours I made certain to get outside … found the Snowy Owl just before sunset, and this Great Gray Owl just after sunrise two days ago in Sax-Zim Bog. Although the wind was calm, the air was cold (-35F). The owl was not hunting, and only want to feel some warmth of the sun’s golden rays after a brutally cold night.

Great Gray Owl

Sundown Snowy Owl!

Year 9

Sometimes you wonder as sundown approaches and is only ten minutes away whether it is worth waiting, and then something likes this experience happens! Yesterday this Snowy Owl suddenly appeared and perched on this pine tree for about five minutes just before sunset.

I often am not able to see whatever an owl sees in the sky above. This was one of those instances, but I have learned the owl is ALWAYS right. Something was up there!

This take-off was an hunting attack that failed.

Hooting up a Storm, During a Storm!

Year 9
So last night what do you do during a BIG snowstorm? If you are my local male Great Horned Owl, you hoot your love to your sweetheart. If you are me, you head out hiking during the storm and find said owl … in the dark silhouetted against the sky … and watch / listen to the singing. The owl would move its entire body with each hoot. It had to hard to hoot into the wind. I have edited out some of the silence. The photograph is of the actual unique individual owl which is hooting, just during the day and not in the middle of a snowstorm, but the hooting is from last night.
(audio link for email subscribers)

If anyone would like a free PDF download of my children’s book, which documents the owlets raised my this owl and its mate (factually correct), browse to Hoot’s page.