Four years ago, we had a pair of Cooper's Hawks build a nest in an Elm tree located in our front yard. They were successful in hatching and raising 4 hawks that were a pleasure to watch as they grew, learned to fly and then play in the trees around the yard.

The next year, we had another pair of hawks raise 2 more youngsters that fledged and made their way into nature. To our disappointment, the nest sat empty last year and we thought our bird raising and viewing was over but...

For the last couple of months, my wife and I have heard owls "hooting" during the late evening, night and early morning around our house. We've seen barn owls around occasionally but didn't know too much about Great Horned Owls until my wife searched for "owls that hoot" on the internet and found that the Great Horned Owl is one of two that use this call and that they are known to be in the Southern California area. Another piece of information gleaned from reading was that owls will take residency in abandoned nests so we started looking to the old hawk nest to see if there was any activity.

I guess owls are very discreet when it comes to their coming and going and nesting habits as we didn't see any evidence of the nest being taken over until one day last week, we looked up and thought we saw something unusual. Grabbing a pair of binoculars, we looked up at the nest and there they were; two little fuzzy heads looking down at us.

We try not to stare too often but my wife saw one of the adults sitting on a branch a couple of feet away watching the owlets poking their heads above the nest. She quickly came in the house, grabbed her camera, and was able to take this picture of one of the owlets last evening.

It'll be exciting when they get bigger and start learning to fly and hunt, it's going to be a great spring!

What a cool experience, and a great photo!

We are fortunate enough to have a family of them visit as they go through their hunting rotation in the area. They are remarkable creatures.

Its crazy how big they can get, and how they fly completely silently.

That's awesome! I love owls.

Say goodbye to any chipmunks you might have around you. We have GH owls here too, as well as the far more common Screechers. When they fly, their wings make no sound at all, unlike most birds of that size. We have a park near us, and I remember one night when a pair flew just a few feet overhead while we were walking the dog. Spooky how silent they are when seen that close, dog didn't even notice.

One year I had a fine batch of baby cottontails. Great Horned Owls got every one of them.
Silent death from above!

Nice!

Good catch!

flashguy

Great photo!

While growing up in Small Town, Iowa in the early to mid fifties, unknown to all of us, we had a GHO nest in a tree in our back yard. On Saturday nights Mom, Dad and the neighbors would often watch the boxing matches on a portable TV and toss back a few cold ones while I, my sister and the local kids would burn off steam in the yard playing tag and generally being obnoxious as kids will. The adults were sitting around in lawn chairs enjoying their beers and Tom Collins when one of the owls decided it was time to launch from the nest. As birds do when taking off the owl unloaded a stream of nastiness which happened to hit my Moms' hairdo that was fresh from the beautician that afternoon. I never heard such screaming followed by words my mother never spoke erupt from her. Needless to say, the party broke up post haste while Mom went inside to wash her hair and ruin all that teased up work that had been done in the beauty shop earlier that afternoon. Dad was pretty conscious about nature and waited until the owlets had fledged before having the nest destroyed later that year. Needless to say the Saturday Night Fights parties in our back yard came to an end and moved to a neighbors' place until the following Summer.

Sadly the cemetery across the street cut down a 33" dia. Dead as hell walnut tree ,that was no danger at all of harming people or property.

We had G.H. owls there nesting for many years..

They used to bring their young'uns too our back yard trees to teach them hunting .
I miss'em.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

quote:

Originally posted by architect: Say goodbye to any chipmunks you might have around you.

I used to have six or seven of them around my property. Then, for two years they were gone and I was over-run with chipmunks, squirrels, and mice. I went through boxes of .22s killing the destructive little vermin. Then, last year the owls were back and...no rodents. At all.

 
Our local GHOs nest out in the desert, mostly in the mesquite and palo verde trees along the washes. They come visit our neighborhood nightly, and I can hear them every night on our roof or in a nearby tree. When they have a little one along, you'll hear the adult hooting in what you didn't realize was a "deep" voice, until you hear the little one pipe up with the same hoot in a much higher voice.

I hear a GHO to the south but haven't seen it. I do have Barred Owls that visit the power poles and my oak trees.