We usually start to hear them in the late fall and then throughout the winter. We are certain that they must nest in the Spruces up the street from us each winter. Our Beagle doesn't seem to like walking this way when they are hooting during the winter. On very rare occasion we have caught a glimpse of them in the night.
Our local Great Horned Owls have generally been fairly elusive despite being incredibly vocal. This past week while working in the garden, the local American Crows were quite raucous. Initially I ignored them assuming that it wasn't anything interesting, but after over an hour of the noise, I decided to investigate. They cawed at a large brown lump in our neighbor's tree, so I concluded I should get a camera to improve my viewing.
The brown lump appeared to be two young Great Horned Owls attempting to get some shut eye.
The Owls managed to outlast Crows but took off when our neighbor's mowing service arrived.
Great Horned Owls are large native raptors which are distributed widely. Like other animals who do well in backyards, they are pretty adaptable, and their diet consists of a variety of small mammals and even Skunk. During the winter our owls duet together, and generally we've found them to be welcome company.
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