MORNING VISITOR

We had a really exciting visitor this morning! 

Great Horned Owl - June 20, 2015

We hear the Great Horned Owls frequently when walking the dog in the early morning or at night, but rarely see one.  This morning, we were looking out the window, trying to hear some other strange sound at about 5:30AM, and noted the jays and other little birds seemingly mobbing something (also a common activity around here with all of our hawks and owls!).  I saw a movement - something flying toward a tree, but had no clue even how big the bird was, let alone what it might be.  I grabbed my binocs and went into the other room where there were fewer branches in front of where I thought I saw a bird.  It took some hunting, but I finally found an odd lump up next to the trunk of the tree.  Cool!  This lump has ear tufts!!!

Great Horned owl hiding from mobsters

Our visitor hung around for about a half hour, so I managed to set up my camera and the scope and we got some really good views of it.  I had hoped to get some pix of the little birds mobbing the GHOW*, but never managed to click at the right moment, and the owl was doing a good job of not being noticed much.

It did come out onto the branch more, so the rest of the pictures are frontal.


















It was mostly still, but occasionally looked from side to side.















Owls can turn their heads all the way around to look behind them, but I'd never actually seen that.  These next two pictures are interesting because in the first one, you see the blurred movement of the head, and the second one shows the head turned backwards.  

Great Horned Owl turning its head all the way around

Looking at all 40 some pictures that I took, there was almost no change in the bird's body or its feet and the way it was clamped onto the branch.  Only the head moved.

We have no idea why the owl was out and about after dawn.  Could have been caught away from its usual daytime roost and was waiting for the mobbers to go away; could have been seeking food for its nestlings - owls will hunt in the daytime when they have nestlings; or it could have been chased away from its usual roost.  Ooo!  Or maybe its usual roost is right around here and we just haven't seen it before!  Suzanne has seen a GHOW* here a few times this year.  In any case, we sure enjoyed the visit!

Great Horned Owl - June 20, 2015

*There are four-letter "Alpha Codes" for all birds, a bit of shorthand.  The Great Horned Owl is "GHOW"