{"id":133770,"date":"2024-09-04T02:51:13","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T07:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=133770"},"modified":"2024-09-04T20:35:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T01:35:43","slug":"great-horned-owl-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/09\/04\/great-horned-owl-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Horned Owl Mystery – Things That Go Hoot In The Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning, while it was still pitch dark outside, I heard a bird call. Then, I heard a Great Horned Owl hooting. I soon had a mystery on my hands.<\/p>\n

I had left the door open a crack because it was cooler outside than inside, and it felt wonderful. Sitting in front of my laptop near the door, I was working on my site when I heard a strange bird call that I didn’t recognize, followed soon after by the call of a Great Horned Owl.<\/p>\n

I grabbed my phone, turned on my Merlin app<\/span><\/a>, opened the door wider, and began to record the calls. I wanted to identify the bird call that I didn’t recognize.<\/p>\n

In just seconds, I heard what sounded like the Great Horned Owl attacking the mystery bird that was making the other call.<\/p>\n

Take a listen to what I heard. You may need to turn your device volume way up to hear it.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/great-horned-owl-and-mystery-bird-call.wav<\/a><\/audio><\/div>\n

Wow, it sounded like that bird who had been making the odd call was a goner to me!<\/p>\n

I got curious. I wanted to identify the call I had heard so I shared the audio file I had created to the American Birding Association’s Facebook group “What’s This Bird<\/span><\/a>” and to iNaturalist<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I got the answer I needed from my iNaturalist submission of the audio file. So what was the bird making the strange calls?<\/p>\n

A young Great Horned Owl!<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Horned Owl<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m guessing that what sounded like the Great Horned Owl attacking the other bird was actually a parent bringing food to their young.<\/p>\n

The sounds are consistent with what I have heard in the field when adult Great Horned Owls have brought food to their young in the nest. I’d just forgotten those sounds since I heard them last in 2008! My memory has been rebooted and reactivated.<\/p>\n

It was too dark to photograph the owls, so instead, I am sharing an older image of a Great Horned Owl I found and photographed at Antelope Island State Park in the fall of 2011.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to view more of my Great Horned Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning, while it was still pitch dark outside, I heard a bird call. Then, I heard a Great Horned Owl hooting. I soon had a mystery on my hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[511,13950,27,209,13951,26],"tags":[4004,15658,970,2663,4203,11978,4620,4070,4108,3967,294,4104,153,5153],"class_list":["post-133770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-great-horned-owls","category-sebastian-county","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-audio","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-bubo-virginianus","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-female","tag-great-horned-owl","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-tamarisk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t