The symbol of wisdom, Athena’s companion, so dignified in the air, swooping silently over a rodent, its powerful claws flexed—jumps into a water dish with the gawkiness of a three-year-old kid.
Some years we have a pair of great-horned owls nesting in an Aleppo pine by the bedroom, and it’s a treat to hear them hoo-h'HOO-hoo-hooing at one another through the night. Who needs sleep? As in many predatory birds, the female great-horned owl is larger; the male, however, has a bigger voice box and a louder call. We sometimes hear the chicks, which make a insistent and pretty irritating whine, which must prompt the adults to stuff their beaks with mice. (We have plenty of pocket mice, pack rats, K-rats, and antelope ground squirrels around for them!)
This longer video gives you a chance to study several swell owl-features. The ferocious feet keep squirming prey from escaping. You can see how it can swivel its head 180 degrees and can get a good look at the structure of its enormous eyes with their huge irises that give owls the ability to see at night. Unlike prey animals, which often have eyes on either side of their heads, owls see in binocular vision like we do.
If we could see the owl’s ears, we’d notice that one is higher than the other. When they turn and tilt their heads, they can pinpoint the distance and direction of the tiniest rodent skitter with great accuracy.
Great-horned owls eat rodents, reptiles, birds—one owl traumatized a generation of Gambel’s quail by flying into the palo verde tree where they like to roost at night—and even raptors as big as Cooper’s hawks.
Only humans and golden eagles prey on great-horned owls. Humans are the most deadly because of the poison they put out for rats and mice, despite education efforts to spread the word how deadly rat poison is to carnivores like owls, coyotes, and hawks.
Local owls must be wary right now, because a pair of golden eagles is nesting in Indian Cove. (Climbing routes there are closed until July.) Fortunately for our bathing beauties, the eagles don’t hunt at night.
Great-horned owls aren’t wise or goofy—they are gloriously themselves. And with that, the owl and I are outta here!
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LOVE these desert adventures!
As always, I sure enjoyed this - thank you!