Sunday, July 7, 2013

Whooooo are you looking at?

A family of Great Horned owls have nested in the trees behind the house this year.  They were noisy at night during mating season and, being mostly nocturnal, we catch glimpses of them in the early morning but it's not easy to find them.  Earlier this week hawk screams turned my attention to a large oak tree near the creek.  Heading toward the sound, the hawk flew away and that's when I saw this owl which was apparently the object of the hawk screaming.

The owl from the back, you can see his tufted ears.



The owl turned its head around over the right shoulder.  The Great Horned owl is identified by its dark beak and large size.


 Blink contest? 


Now over the left shoulder


The owl is capable of a 270 degree turn and I think this would be about the max




After a few seconds of curiosity the owl took flight moving quite quickly.  If you click on the photo it will enlarge and you can see better detail of this magnificent creature.

  
The head turn in slideshow format.  Notice the legs do not change position.



So the owl out-stared the screaming hawk and provided a rare opportunity to see a Great Horned owl in action.

13 comments:

  1. Wow, Shirley! Magnificent photos of one of my favorite birds. So creepy and mysterious and beautiful.

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    1. It was so special to see this right in the backyard.

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  2. Very cool!!!!!!! Great shots!

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  3. Great shots, especially the movie of it turning its head! I guess they can live here too. I hear an owl in our woods sometime but I'm not sure what it is. I've seen big owls flying at night and assumed they were snowy owls because they look white but the undersides of the wings on your photo look light.

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    1. Great Horned owls are common all over North America so it's possible. There are several other owls in the PNW and many owls have white undersides on their wings so the only way to tell is to get a close look.

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  4. Great slide show and excellent shots! How wonderful that you captured him in flight! We have great horned owls here, too. We don't see them often, either, but sometimes we hear them hooting at night, while sitting atop our chimney. One time we saw a rabbit's foot on the picnic table the next day! (Sorry rabbits, but I'm glad the Owls help keep your numbers in check.)

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    1. Between the coyotes, hawks, and owls we have no bunnies and few rodents to disturb our garden.

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  5. That slides how caught me off guard, moving images generally don't work on the iPad and yet there it was MOVING!

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    1. Amazing isn't it? The slideshow was combined into a single photo via Picasaweb and uploaded directly to Blogger as a photo instead of a link.

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  6. I love Great Horned Owls! We have a pair that come sit on a utility pole and hoot back and forth to each other. They don't come that often but when they do I run out to watch them. I've never been able to get a good photo of them because it's usually too dark and I don't have a decent lens to capture them. Thanks for posting such a great series of photos, especially the video!

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    1. We enjoy having them even though sightings are rare. I'd been trying to get photos of the hawks so had the camera with me.

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  7. Pretty amazing images of this cool bird. I know we have them here but I've never seen one. Very exciting for you to have them nesting in your tree!

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