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Re: Great Horned Owls courting



Norman Budnitz wrote:

> At 09:29 AM 12/2/99 -0500, you wrote:
> >We always have GHOwls calling in the fall and winter.  How do you tell the
> >male from the female call and how do you know that they are courting?
> >
> >\\    ~
> >  \\_(o>
> >   (   )        Mary Myers
> >   ^ ^   Charleston, SC
> >mmyers@nations.net
>
> Female Great Horned Owls are larger than males and have a deeper voice.  At
> this time of year, if you hear two GHOWs, calling back and forth, one low,
> one high, you are probably hearing a courting pair.  The onset of cold
> weather and short days (long nights) seems to get their juices flowing.
>
> [My apologies to Alex, but the call he mentions in his note sounds to me
> like a Barred Owl.  I think they begin their breeding activities much later
> in the winter or early spring.]
>
> Norm
> *******************************************************************
> Norman Budnitz                  919-684-3592 (day)
> nbudnitz@duke.edu               919-383-0553 (eve)
>                                 919-684-6168 (fax)
>
> Dept of Zoology, Duke Univ, Box 90325, Durham NC 27708-0325 (work)
> 4115 Garrett Drive, Durham NC 27705-8005 (home)
>
> PROGRESS: the victory of laughter over dogma.
> (Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas)

Great! I love a lively discussion! I was not aware that GHO's courted in the
winter, but I am glad to learn. However, the GHO that I called in to range of
my head lamp was say ing something like hoo hoo-hoo HOO wow. The BO says who
cooks for YOU, who cooks for YOUuuuuuuall! (Called them in too, once on top of
a bunch of campers in a campfire circle, where they terrified the campers with
"monkey chatter.)


--
Alex Netherton
The Appalachian Naturalist
Asheville, NC
http://www.appalachian-naturalist.com
mailto:alex@appalachian-naturalist.com

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