Owl Week: Great Horned

So far during Owl Week here at B&B, we’ve seen some of the smaller owls, which are rare for Brooklyn per se. But today we have the Great Horned owl, Bubo virginianus, which is big and bold and most definitely living here in Kings County. This picture is from two winters ago. Unfortunately, the nest failed that year. Later, that massive old tree was cut down, so the owls had to find another nesting site. They did, but again, last year, the pair of them failed to produce any offspring.

It’s hard be an owl in Brooklyn, but the Great Horned seems to be the most flexible of North American owls in terms of its ecological niches and breeding habitats. (And you know what they say about NYC, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.)

Great Horned owls generally nest very early in the year, which means they have more of the elements to worry about. As you can imagine, the very cold and the very wet (rain is worse than snow) are great hazards to vulnerable eggs and hatchlings. The owls seem to do this so that their young are born, and hungry, when other bird species are nesting, and hence particularly vulnerable to predation.

This is the owl that makes the classic “hoo-hoo-hoo” owl sound, the one most people think all owls sound like. To hear it in the woods… or on the streets of the borough, is a magical thing.

Very cat-like are the eyes.