[TN-Bird] Re: thoughts on owl update (Great Horned Owl)
- From: K Dean EDWARDS <kde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Wallace Coffey <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:42:56 -0500 (EST)
Great info, Wallace. Thanks, this will be a big help. Let's see if
I can give a few more details to answer some of your questions.
First, it was definitely a Great Horned Owl that I saw leaving and
returning to the nest. I managed to get one picture silhoutted
against the last glow of the sunset.
I ASSUME that the nest was originally that of a Red-tailed Hawk
because of the size and because I believe that a Red-tail pair
nested in this vicinity last year... I saw them carrying sticks
and later food. I looked for the nest some at the time but didn't
do an all-out search to keep looking till I found it.
One point to make is that I heard the screeching down the ridge
from our house (toward the SW) and the nest is up the ridge from
our house (toward the NE). So unless this year's young have already
left the nest, that theory doesn't look to sound.
I saw the owl fly from the tree but didn't see precisely where
it was before it flew... it was in the vicinity of the nest but
I can't say if it was on, beside, etc.
It was getting pretty dark by the time I found the nest and was
dark when the bird came back. I had a bad viewpoint and was basically
looking up at the bottom of the nest ... couldn't see in it.
When the bird returned, it flew to a nearby hardwood tree. I
assume it saw me raise my binocs, because it quickly left again.
I almost left to keep from disturbing them but decided to try
for one more return. Again, the bird returned to the same tree
and sat there for a little while, then flew into the pine, near
the nest, sat there for a while longer, then hopped/flew to the
nest. Once it got to the nest I couldn't see anything between
my bad vantage point and the darkness. Couldn't even tell if it
had food or not though I don't think it had anything as large as
a rabbit. No calls were heard the whole time.
I never saw more than one bird at a time last night but can't say
it was always the same or that there wasn't another bird brooding
on the nest or young in the nest the whole time.
Now that I know where to look, I'll be better prepared and can
hopefully get some better looks to see what's going on.
Some history, this season, we first heard the GH Owls on 7 Nov 2003
when both the male and female were heard calling. We heard them on
average 1-2 days a week from then until late-Dec. From late-Dec
until now, we're closer to 4+ days per week. Sometimes one, usually
both.
I'm 100% confident what I heard screeching were owls. I haven't
heard it again since that night. Maybe it was yearling owls that
wandered into the adult's territory. It could have been Barred
Owls, apparently young of this species also make some horrendous
screeching noises similar to those of the GH Owl. We have those
in the neighborhood too but they usually don't "show up" until late
spring and through the summer.
Last Feb (2003) I heard a similar screeching on several nights.
One night I was able to go out into the woods and track down the
source. It was two large (Great Horned sized) owls. I only saw
them in the dark and so couldn't see plumage details (down indicating
fledglings for example) just shapes as they sat in the tree and
then flew downhill a short distance to another tree then on again
out of sight.
Thanks for any and all input. I'll keep watching to see what's
going on out there.
Dean Edwards
Knoxville, TN
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