Over the years, I have heard Great Horned Owl's courting hoots in late December. During the winter of 2003 I was a bit worried how much calling I would hear. As you may or may not know, the Ohio Great Horned population and other raptors took a hard hit in the summer of 2002 from the drought and West Nile virus. To the novice or folk trained outdoorsman, this may appear to be a good thing.
Before you bask in great joy, you need to know the benefits of raptors far outweigh the folklore perceived harm. Many of the prey animals feed on the same plants and reproduce very rapidly. They can very quickly reach or surpass the carrying capacity of a habitat and die off due to lack of food and you have fewer animals than you would have with a healthy prey/ predator interaction. Another example of an imbalance follows.
Again, many old significant other tales (formerly called old wive's tales) are told about owls. All the incorrect discussion about this rodent predator's impact on game species is by far overplayed. The fox and coyote cause more harm here than any owl population. If you take away owls, the prey population explodes and fox and coyote populations will increase due to the extra food. This will then become a real problem for game species. To learn more about owls go to: http://wwwrci.rutgers.edu/~au/owl.htm Learn to enjoy these stealth hunters of the night.
I have, on many hikes, called in owls. My call is not perfect, but I have been able to get a response. Real owl duets can go on for hours and can last up to a month. After they have bonded, they will choose a nest site and raise their young. The nest sites could be stumps, tree cavities, old hawk, crow, and occasionally squirrel tree nests. They remodel the nesting site with down and feathers.
Why is this event seen as a sign of spring? As you all know, the winter Solstice was Dec. 21. We had our shortest day of just over 8 hours. From this date, on the days get longer. The owls are among the first birds to nest
and will be nesting as early as February. The female does most of the brooding of 26 to 35 days, and the male provides the food during nesting. In fact, as a courtship gesture, he ritually feeds the female to show he will be a good provider. The young hatch asynchronously. This is a species' survival tool. The picture of owl's progressive size from small to large on a greeting card is cute, but siblings have been known to eat younger siblings. If there is not enough food for even one, the female will abandon the nest to raise young again during more favorable conditions.
Owls are nature's stealth fighter. They can hunt in complete darkness. Their ears are asymmetrical and can pinpoint prey several yards away; right, left, ahead, above or below. They have silent flight due to a serrated edge on the first primary feather. (Most birds have smooth edged primaries.) This serrated edge disrupts airflow and thus reduces the vortex noise of a smooth surface. The feather surface is also covered with a fine down.
Owls are one of the world's most successful animals with worldwide distribution. Their ability to adapt to different conditions is legendary. A classic example of this ability to adapt is found in Great Horned Owls of the far north. Unfinished prey almost immediately freezes.
These owls will then practice what is called prey "brooding" to thaw out the frozen leftovers.
Owls you can find in this area are both resident and migratory. Resident owls include the eastern screech owl, the great horned owl, and barred owl. The resident barn owls have been extripated from this area since the 1960s. Changes in farming practices are the main reason. It should be pointed out here that there were fewer barn owls before agriculture entered the area. The barn owl used old tree cavities to nest and barns became a new choice for a home. Barns are not the main reason for their increase. It was the meadows created be the farms that helped to bring up the population. They were almost extripated from the entire state as a resident species. Thanks to ODNR conservation efforts they can be found in several Ohio counties.
The migratory species include the winter visit of the saw-whet, summer short and long eared, and an exotic visitor from the far north has been seen in Ohio the snowy owl. I recently read that the winter bird count listed both short eared and long eared owls. They are both fairly uncommon owls here in the winter. Long ears are rarely seen any time. To see one you are either very good or very lucky. I worked twenty years with raptors and in all that time we had only one long eared owl show up at the raptor center. Long ears are very reclusive animals.
No one has given me the correct answer for the only true hibernator in this area. Keep trying! Send answers to bowerman4@verizon.net
I stated in my last article that I would start listing birds that have visited my feeder. You too are still invited to send me your observations to the above e-mail address. To date, the following birds have been at my feeders or backyard: cardinal, slate colored junco (alias dark- eyed juncos:), downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, yellow- bellied sapsucker, red bellied woodpecker, Carolina wren, tree sparrow, chickadee, morning dove, house finch, goldfinch, Cooper's hawk (dinner guest), house sparrow, white-throated sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, brown-headed cowbird, tufted titmouse, horned lark, red-breasted nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch, song sparrow, pine siskin, starling and snow bunting.
It is with great pleasure to announce that Mr. Mike Gilligan is the February 2008 recipient of The Non- Consumptive Wildlife Conservation Award. Mike is a retired chemistry teacher from Findlay High School. In his retirement, he has become a premier moth and butterfly expert. Mike is a member of the Ohio Lepidopterology Society. Mike also does park programs on moths and butterflies, conducts surveys at parks like Van Buren and other locations. During one of his surveys, Mike found a very rare butterfly at Van Buren State Park. I was the naturalist at that time and Mike was a VIP naturalist for the park. I remember the day I was asked to help as a confirmer of the find. The butterfly is a Dukes Skipper. Mike found it, on July 12, 2004 at Van Buren State Park. Mike has also written a book on Van Buren moths. It can be seen at the park's nature center. This community is very lucky to have such a dedicated naturalist as Mike. He continues to study, raise caterpillars and share his love for moth and butterflies. Thank You Mike!
Nature is as Nature Does Mr. B
