nesting great horned owls

[ilikebirds]

a few months back we heard great horned owls in our backyard. i didnt know what species at first, but upon listening to owl calls of owls in our area, no other owl sounds like a hornee. i was flabbergasted...in my 29 years of living in this area, this was the first time i had noticed the species in the area.
last night i stepped out for a smoke, nasty habit i know. but then, i heard the lovely sound of a wee baby begging for food! it was a loud unmistakable screechig of a baby bird. a big one. so if its the hornees, any tips to spot them? do they leave the nest at dusk? the tree the sounds come from is an insanely large conifer, very hard to spot anything.

 

[cupoftea]

Wow, you are very lucky!! It would be nice to have owls nesting in the backyard.

 

[ilikebirds]

i would smile for a week to see one even just a glimpse! i dont wish to disturb the, just try to pinpoint thier location so i can look in that direction from time to time and see what i can see

 

[SandraK]

Owls are one of the few things that skunks are afraid of! I'd give my eyeteeth to have a couple of LARGE owls here.

 

[DeanArrlack]

Awesome! Wish I had them in NYC. THey're most active at dawn and dusk. Their call can carry very long distances so its hard to say how close they are.

 

[itzmered]

They will be sitting with their heads peaking out of the nest all day long. Mom and dad are usually sitting very close by. Go for a walk and find them ;-)

 

[itzmered]

If you ate on Facebook look for the group Owl About Minnesota and you will see tons of pics of GHO's and their babies in the nests

 

[ilikebirds]

i have been trying all week, and havent seen anything yet. i spotted some nesting doves in the tree i suspect they might be in. across the way is a pair of large hawks, im not sure if they have a nest, or use that spot as a favorite roost during the day. today i spotted a scrub jay robbing the robins. poor things were upset for a long time. all kinds of birds, but no horned owls yet. i have a local wildlife rehab on my facebook, they have a handful of baby hornies right now
here is one that they were able to return to his nest.