Their eyeballs don't move. The make NO sound at all when flying. And they don't make their own nests. I'm talking about owls. I have a thing for them, probably because they are so elusive and hard to spot in nature and I've actually been treated to seeing them twice. The first time was out in Idaho; baby owls in a tree where I was staying. The second time was when I was doing my bike ride from Pittsburgh to DC. I was near Fort Frederick, MD and it was unusual because it was the middle of the day. Never would have seen him at all if he'd not been doing his distinctive call. I found him in the trees and managed to get this picture. It is a barred owl, named for the bars of colors on his chest.
Mostly though, you just hear owls and because they are nocturnal, you hear them at night. About two weeks ago I was thrilled to hear a barred owl in the woods while relaxing in my hot tub. Not the first time I've heard him around my yard. Last evening, I actually got my tired butt to go back out in the cold and dark to listen to the county parks naturalist talk about owls. I'm really glad I went. He was a great speaker and I learned a lot more about owls. I learned several different ways to find/spot owls. Three tips:
Mostly though, you just hear owls and because they are nocturnal, you hear them at night. About two weeks ago I was thrilled to hear a barred owl in the woods while relaxing in my hot tub. Not the first time I've heard him around my yard. Last evening, I actually got my tired butt to go back out in the cold and dark to listen to the county parks naturalist talk about owls. I'm really glad I went. He was a great speaker and I learned a lot more about owls. I learned several different ways to find/spot owls. Three tips:
- Watch where hawks nest and go look there the following year. Owls don't build their own nests, and they particularly like hawk nests.
- Look for "owl pellets" on the ground underneath trees. If you find a tree with many pellets on the ground, you've found the owl's kitchen. Pellets are the parts of their prey they spit out...the fur and bones of mice for example. They periodically urp up a robin-egg sized soft pellet. The naturalist passed some around the room. They are like small wads of dryer lint. Cool factoid: during the lifespan of a barn owl, they will eat nearly 13,000 mice.
- If you hear a bunch of crows craw-ing madly around a tree, they are probably trying to harass an owl that's staying put.