Great Horned Owl

This is one of the young owls raised in our yard last year. He was hanging out about 1/2 mile down the road when I went to Saguache this morning

They are beautiful birds. As I said sometime earlier, I had one that used to come and visit my porch railing when I was an apartment dweller. He would take a hot dog from your hand. They are absolutely silent when on the wing.

Owls are rarely seen in this area so it is always great to see such a beautiful bird!

Fox Mike said:

They are absolutely silent when on the wing.

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They define death from above for any rodent. Amazing to watch them hunt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xk3K0dDqtg

Great picture Don. Fascinating birds.

WendyZXZ said:

Owls are rarely seen in this area so it is always great to see such a beautiful bird!

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Wendy,
That is interesting. We have had Owls around or neighborhood forever mostly Bar Owls. In fact before I put a screen on our chimney two got caught in it and I had to extract them. First time I just opened the damper and reached up and grabbed it by the feet. Not a real good IDEA. Second one I put on my welding gloves then grabbed it. We still have several calling to one another at night.
It does get pretty nasty below their roost because they must throw up a lot of food.

Don't see many around here although they are around (We have a lot of flying squirrels, also==haven't seen one in the 17 years I've lived here!). That being said, I saw a screech owl last week and a great horned this week (Mon or Tues). OTOH, fewer ospreys but I haven't been down at the water much this year.

Wyandot Jim said:

WendyZXZ said:

Owls are rarely seen in this area so it is always great to see such a beautiful bird!

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Wendy,
That is interesting. We have had Owls around or neighborhood forever mostly Bar Owls. In fact before I put a screen on our chimney two got caught in it and I had to extract them. First time I just opened the damper and reached up and grabbed it by the feet. Not a real good IDEA.

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Sounds like one of those situations of who is trying to get away from who!

Wyandot Jim said:

It does get pretty nasty below their roost because they must throw up a lot of food.

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Owls regurgitate the indigestible bones, beaks, fur, etc. You can analyze the diet of an owl by examining these pellets.

It's always a treat to spot them. I had a big white one (snowy owl? Or albino) swoop down across my yard as I was taking out the trash one night. Amazingly silent as mentioned. Saw a interesting pbs show about owls recently.

Beautiful Owl.