by Kevin Strauss

As evening temperatures hover around zero in the northwoods, love is in the air for great horned owls (Bubo virginianus). Area great horns are hooting to set up their breeding territories. If you listen at twilight and early evening, you might hear the “hoo, hoohoo, hoo, hoo” call of this wide-ranging owl. Unlike the great gray and hawk owls that are in the news right now, great horned owls are year-round residents of the boarder region.

This strongly barred gray, brown and black owl is one of our largest native owls at 22-inches tall. But their name is a bit misleading. They don't have “horns” and the feathery tufts on the tops of their heads aren't “ears” either. Their ears are located on the sides of their heads.

We hear their hooting now because great horns are one of the earliest bird species to breed, laying eggs as early as February in our cold northern climate. While the female does most of the incubation for the pair's 3-4 eggs, that doesn't mean that the male always brings her food. Generally the male takes over incubation in the early evening to allow the female to hunt. Either owl may bring prey back to the nest and then either consume it or share it with the incubating adult.

These “tigers of the air” are fierce predators, eating mice, squirrels, skunks, house cats, songbirds, barred owls and hawks. While they can capture prey from small songbirds to big geese, most of prey are mid-sized creatures like grouse and hares.

Great horned owls are a bit like the mafia in the owl world. When a great horned owl sets up a territory, other large owls either move out or receive “an offer they can't refuse.” Usually that “offer” is a dinner invitation and only the great horned owl flies away.

Great horned owls also don't bother with nest building. Instead they take over nests built by crows, hawks, herons or squirrels. They usually choose nest that is 30-70 feet up in a tree. By nesting this early, owls have little competition for nesting sites from other birds. In some cases, the young owlets have fledged and left the nest by the time it's builder is ready to nest. But if the builder, like a hawk, returns and owls are still using its nest, the hawk usually just moves on a build a nest elsewhere. Crows, on the other hand will chase and mob an owl at any opportunity.

So the next time you are out in the evening, listen for the hooting call of our native great horned owl. When I hear that call, I remember that love is in the air and spring will come some day.

The Ely Timberjay