Great Horned Owl Bookmark

Description

Nearly two feet tall, this owl is our largest native owl with ear tufts.  Among the fiercest of avian hunters, this bird of prey carries a sense of power and dignity.  It eats a wide variety of prey; rodents form the bulk of the diet but it also attacks birds as large as geese and turkeys, and is one of the few predators of skunks.

It often lives in deep pine, hemlock or spruce woods broken by hardwoods, and uses old nests of hawks, herons, crows or squirrels.  They may also displace bald eagles from their nests.  Great horned owls may begin nesting as early as February, even in northern parts of their range, and it is not uncommon to see the birds incubating eggs during snowstorms.

Although they have a variety of vocalizations, one of their better known calls is a deep resonant five hoots, ventriloquistic in nature.  On a still moonlit night their calls can carry up to one mile.