We have a barred owl visiting my mother's farm in NC; he's in the yard outside the kitchen windows in the morning and later evening. About the size of a healthy cat, he has "shoulder" feathers that are rather long an hang like a cape.

He sat on a branch less than 15 feet from me outside the windows this AM, and I got a good look at him for five minutes or so at around 6:45.

Beautiful critter.

Late at night I sometimes hear owls hooting back and forth. It seems that perhaps there are two of them separated by quite a distance, a mile or so.

http://www.bioweb.uncc.edu/bie...aard/BDOW/basics.htm

You might consider putting up a nesting box.. There's been lots of interest in re-introducing the " Owls " as a more natural balance, for keeping the rodent population in check.

I remember watching something on " National Geographic ?", a few years back.

http://www.umich.edu/~esupdate...ec2004/antkowiak.pdf

PAPI

Thanks.

I think he has the yard set aside as his "cicada territory". I'm finding the molted cicada skins around, and I hear them in the morning raising a rackett. I read that they eat them- I see him flying down to the ground, I guess he sees them coming up out of the ground.

If that's what he's doing

tin can - Very cool bird. We had some hoot owls nest in our yard at a previous house several years ago. We had owl nestlings all over the yard pretty soon; it was comical.

Although I believe the hispanic culture (no offense intended) and maybe some others feel real strongly about owls around, that it portends mucho bad mojo, death, etc., etc. Same thing about any bird flying in the house.

(Nobody died at our house. And we really enjoyed watching them.)

Lovely Owl, cherish it's presence.

If you have young puppies or kitties, watch out.

I'm pleased to see it isn't from Oklahoma.

nice glands chest pectorals non-dorsal view.

quote:

Originally posted by tin can:
nice tits.

Any reference to the female body is likely to get you banned.

No mention of the female form south of the neck is allowed.

This is a celibate site, tread carefully.

Hey Cazador,

There is historical documentions to your comments..

" Brujas ,who can frequently take the form of flechuzas (barn owls), gatos (cats) orcoyotes (coyotes), may use their evil powers to cause a multitude of problems ranging from prolonged serious illness (physical and mental) to death, or even bad luck in business and love. "
http://www.jems.com/article/pa...-folk-medicines-role


It's a " Superstition(s) " in many cultures; Creatures of the " Night ".. Bats, Owls, Coyotes, etc.


PAPI

quote:

Originally posted by John Frederick:


No mention of the female form south of the neck is allowed.

This is a celibate site, tread carefully.

but avatars are OK, obviously...

quote:

Originally posted by PAPI:
Hey Cazador,

There is historical documentions to your comments..

" Brujas ,who can frequently take the form of flechuzas (barn owls), gatos (cats) orcoyotes (coyotes), may use their evil powers to cause a multitude of problems ranging from prolonged serious illness (physical and mental) to death, or even bad luck in business and love. "
http://www.jems.com/article/pa...-folk-medicines-role


It's a " Superstition(s) " in many cultures; Creatures of the " Night ".. Bats, Owls, Coyotes, etc.


PAPI

Hey, thanks for that link PAPI. I printed it out for my daughter who's in residency. She probably will come across this more than once.

Great Horned Owl sits in the firs behind the house at the top of the pasture. I see it in the sky now and then, over the pastures -- looking for voles I expect.

I can stand on the back porch and "hoot" -- It hoots back. Pretty neat.

Nice pictures!

Out here in the NW they blamed us loggers for killing the spotted owls, after they(greenies) destroyed the industry, they found out that the Barred owls were the ones killing off the spotted owl!

Who wooda thunk that could happen!

quote:

Originally posted by timber ape:
Nice pictures!

Out here in the NW they blamed us loggers for killing the spotted owls, after they(greenies) destroyed the industry, they found out that the Barred owls were the ones killing off the spotted owl!

Who wooda thunk that could happen!

You mean nature is cruel? Things die??
Who knew?

Glad to see this thread. Owls are good people. We're lousy with 'em here in middle Tennessee...suits me just fine.

get yourself an owl hooter turkey call.They will take notice.

About March I was out as it was getting dark with a flash light looking for some stuff. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a big bird fly into a neighbor's poplar tree across the street in his pasture. I walked over to the fence and could see it was an owl. About that time one of our cats came walking back from his barn. I tried to call the cat but he saw the owl, went directly under where the owl was at and started 'talking' to the owl.

Figure I was going to need help with this, I went in the house, got my big maglight and the kids and back out we went. By this time the owl was in another tree closer to the street. The first cat was now on at the base of the tree looking up and another of our cats was on top of the wood fence post right under the owl. By the time we got across the street both cats were climbing the tree to go get the owl. With the brightness of the flash light, all the voices from the kids, the owl thought better of the situation and flew off.

Not sure how that would have turned out if the cats had gotten to the owl.

We see them around quite often and they sure are neat birds. See a lot of red tail hawks also.

quote:

Originally posted by acpchuck45:

Not sure how that would have turned out if the cats had gotten to the owl.

also.

he would have eaten them.

About 1968, we had moved into our new house in Chestefield County, Virginia, in a new and not fully developed subdivision . It was in late January, very late on a bitter cold night brilliantly lit by a full moon, I stepped outside to make sure the garage and cars were locked. While outside, I heard an owl hoot at a great distance from our house. On a whim,
I hooted back. Couldn't believe it when the owl hooted back, We kept calling back and forthe for about twenty minutes, all of the time the owl kept getting closer. I can't tell you the thrill I felt when after still another hoot, I saw the owl sweep across my yard and light on a big white oak on the dge of the cleared area. All of the house lights were off and as I was standing under the overhang of the garage roof, the owl could not locate me in the shadows. I finally stepped out from under the overhang into the bright moonlight and the owl took off. I never saw it well enought to identify it but from its hoot pattern I think it was a barred owl which is the most common in that area.

A few years later a screech owl moved into a clump of pines at the far end of our yard. I would hear it late at night whenI was up working on taxes or something. You actually sense it before you hear it. They don't scrrech or anything at all like that. The call is a very low, quavering sound that starts softly and gets louder but never very loud at any time and then trails off. Your are left wondering, "Did I really hear that?". One night I sneaked down to the clump of pine tress with a portable tape recorder and recorded their calls for about 15 minutes. I still have the tape and still marvel that they would allow me to get that close