Owls Are Calling for Mates

The Great Horned Owls are calling for mates this weekend. It's late January and the Great Horned are the earliest of the owls to nest, beginning in late January and continuing through March.  I was awakedned  before dawn to their soft "whoo, whoo, whoo calls.  One of the owls sits in the little woods west of the house, just outside my bedroom window and calls.  Further west in what we call the big woods, another owl answers.

Last winter I woke on a cold moonlit February night hearing the owl's call. I looked out my bedroom window and there he sat in the big ash tree, silhouetted against the moon, just like a classic Halloween picture. Every time he called he stretched up on his perch, so it was easy to see him.  Scenes like that are one of the reasons I love living in the country.

To learn more about the Great Horned Owl and lots of other wildlife, visit the Ohio Department of Natural Resources at:

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_a_to_z/SpeciesGuideIndex/greathornedowl/tabid/6650/Default.aspx