As the sun began to set, its horizontal rays, provided a brief moment of golden illumination.
I have read that if you find a solitary Great Horned Owl roosting during daylight, i.e. simply resting as opposed to incubating eggs, it is most likely sitting at the spot where it finished hunting on the previous night. For an Owl, twilight generally coincides with waking up.
I was lucky to spot this Great Horned Owl, about an hour before the previous photo was taken, perched next to the trunk of a Douglas Fir tree. Silent and still, it was doing nothing to attract attention.
With it's eyes closed, resting 50 feet off the ground, while also hidden below the upper foliage of the tree. The tree tops provided cover from the eyes of Bald Eagles passing overhead. Plus the cover from neighboring trees helped to hide the Owl from the harassment of American Crows, Stellar's Jays and a wide variety of smaller birds who fear its appetite.
Even though it was resting, it's ears were alert for unusual or promising sounds made by potential prey or predators. It must have heard something.
The head rose, the eyes widen and Owl focused its hearing to access the situation.
The Owl relaxed as it apparently decided to ignore the sound. Nonetheless, as the sun drifted lower in the western sky the Owl began to wake up.
Using its powerful talons it scratches below its lower face. All About Birds says, "When clinched, a Great Horned Owl's strong talons require a force of 28 pounds to open. The owls use this deadly grip to sever the spine of large prey."
The white bib, behind the talons, is made of some of the brightest feathers on the Owl's body.
As the talons approach its face the Owl closed its eyelids to protect eyes. Surprisingly, the eyelids are also covered with white feathers, just like the bib. Being just below the mouth, the bib seems like an oddly located feature that could be easily soiled. What is the value of these bright white feathers on the front of a predatory bird?
(My mind wanders, "The white bib and white eyelids reminds me of smiling face emoji.)
Under the title "Pair Bond," Birds of the World provides an interesting example of how the bib is actually utilized. The "Male cocks his tail, swells his white bib, and with much bobbing and jerking utters series of deep sonorous calls that elicit calling responses by the female."
This example, from November of last year, appears to demonstrate the swollen bib.
On the same November evening, these were the sounds being exchanged by this (presumably male) owl with its mate. If you turn up the volume and play the video I am hoping you can hear their exchange.
Surprisingly, even though female Great Horned Owls are physically larger, the males have the larger voice boxes and therefore have the deeper voices.
If you live near a wooded area around Union Bay, like the Arboretum, Interlaken Park, or Yesler Swamp, you may be used to hearing the Barred Owls communicating back and forth with their distinctive "Who cooks for you?". It maybe challenging, but fun, to learn the difference between the vocal interactions of the Great Horned Owl versus the smaller and more common Barred Owls.
I admit I have only seen Great Horned Owls in the Arboretum twice in fifteen years, but earlier this month my Merlin ID application claimed to record a Great Horned Owl in the Arboretum. Once I noticed the recording, I went back and searched, but sadly could not locate the Owl. Nonetheless, Knowing the difference in the calls of the two species has been very helpful on Whidbey Island, and potentially in our Seattle Parks as well.
Curiously, while the Barred Owls (BAOW) are more common in Seattle, The Great Horned Owls (GHOW) are far more commonly dispersed across the continent as a whole. Their habitat choices overlap in places, but there are significant differences.
Barred Owls will eat almost any meat they can find in relatively small but generally wooded territories (Click Here to see the BAOW Abundance map.)
Great Horned Owls can apparently live on an even more diverse menu, plus, they can find food in a much broader set of eco-systems. (Click Here to see the GHOW Abundance map.)
Near the end of August, a friend invited me over to look and listen for a Great Horned Owl. In this case he thought it might be a young one that had fledged earlier in the year. I agreed this seemed like a first year bird. For one thing the size of the eyes relative to the head seemed impressively large. I can't scientifically prove that eye-size indicates youth, but it certainly feels like a valid hint.
Another reason for thinking this was a first-year bird were the begging calls it made.
Finally, I noted there seemed to be more white feathers on top of its head, and the "horn-like feathers" seemed shorter than they appear on the mature adults.
By way of comparison, here is an example of the amount of downy white feathers and short "horns" on a very young Great Horned Owl, who was still in the nest in February of 2013.
Returning to our Owl waking up in the Douglas Fir.
As the sunset, I wondered whether this was a mature Owl or a first year bird?
With each month that the young mature, I find the clues to their age harder to spot. However, it is very interesting to look at this bird's tail feathers.
Once a bird matures, they tend to replace only a few tail feathers at a time. In essence, they seem to keep some longer fully-functional feathers at all times. However, when they are young, all their tail feathers are growing in at the same time. It also seems that as long as the young birds are being fed by their parents, fully functional tail feathers are less critical. I wonder if that is because their hunting skills have not yet developed to require the precision enabled by full-sized tail feathers.
For comparison, here is the tail of a mature bird, the one who was showing his bib and making the mating calls in 2025. His tail feathers seem significantly longer.
By the way, Birds Connect Seattle is opening a new Owl Exhibit beginning in October.
Have a great day on Union Bay...or wherever the Owls choose to visit you!
Larry
Going Native:
Each of us who breathes the air, drinks water, and eats food should be helping to protect our environment. Local efforts are most effective and sustainable. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and the local native creatures. Even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape.
I hope we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors, and local businesses to respect native flora and support native wildlife at every opportunity. I have learned that our most logical approach to native trees and plants (in order of priority) should be to:
1) Learn and leave established native flora undisturbed.2) Remove invasive species and then wait to see if native plants begin to grow without assistance. (When native plants start on their own, then these plants or trees are likely the most appropriate flora for the habitat.)3) Scatter seeds from nearby native plants in a similar habitat.4) If you feel you must add a new plant, then select a native plant while considering how the plant fits with the specific habitat and understanding the plant's logical place in the normal succession of native plants.
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Keystone native plants are an important new idea. Douglas Tallamy, in the book "Nature's Best Hope, " explains that caterpillars supply more energy to birds, particularly young birds in their nests, than any other plant eater. He also mentions that 14% of our native plants, ie Keystone Plants, provide food for 90% of our caterpillars. This unique subset of native plants and trees enables critical moths, butterflies, and their caterpillars that provide food for the great majority of birds, especially when feeding their young.
Note: Flowering plants and trees, i.e. those pollinated by bees, are also included as Keystone Plants.
This video explains the native keystone plant concept in more detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5cXccWx030
The Top Keystone Genera in our ecoregion i.e. Plants and trees you might want in your yard:
Additional content available here:
https://wos.org/wos-wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Native-Plant-Resources-10-7-22.pdf
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In this area, I typically display at least one photo with each post to challenge us to know our native lifeforms. Can you identify these three native PNW ferns?
A)
B)
C)
Scroll down for the answer.
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The Answer:
The simple answers are:
A = Licorice Fern
B = Sword Fern
C = Deer Fern
Some additional interesting observations happen when you turn over mature fronds that have produced spores.
Depending on the time of year, this photo was taken in March, if you turn over mature fronds of Licorice Fern, you may see the round brown sori, which have produced the spores that aid in the dispersal and reproduction.
FYI - The easiest clue to identifying Licorice Fern is that they are the only one of the three that grows on trees, most often Big Leaf Maple in my experience.
Also, depending on the time of year, this photo was taken in September, if you turn over mature fronds of Sword Ferns, you may see the round brown sori, which have produced the spores that aid in their dispersal and reproduction.
Curiously, with Deer Fern, you will never see round, brown sori under their primary, light-synthesizing, green fronds. This is because their sori grow a different type of frond in the central part of the plant.
You can still see a few of their brown sori on the underside of these central fronds. This photo was taken in September.
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The Email Challenge:
In response, I have set up my own email list. With each post, I will manually send out an announcement. If you would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Something like:
Larry, Please add me to your personal email list.
My email address is:
LDHubbell@comcast.net
Thank you!
FYI: I have begun using gmail to publish my posts since it allows more email addresses in a single batch. However, it still takes multiple days to send out the notices of a new post. Thank you for your patience.
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The Comment Challenge:
Bottom Line:
If you write a long comment, please, copy it before hitting enter. Then, if the comment function fails to record your information, you can send the comment directly to me using email.
My email address is:
LDHubbell@comcast.net
Larry
Recommended Citation:
Artuso, C., C. S. Houston, D. G. Smith, and C. Rohner (2022). Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (N. D. Sly, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.grhowl.01.1
