Mariton - Great-horned owls

Saturday morning, I walked out to the bird blind early to make sure all the feeders were full.  The birds usually prepare for a storm by feasting, and I wanted to make sure there would be lots of food available to them.  As I reached up to hang one of the feeders, I saw a Great-horned Owl fly from a tree top to another tree across the trail. 

Chances are good, that the owl was also preparing for the storm by looking for unwary birds at the feeders.  This mortifies some people, but not me.  Mariton has wonderful habitat for song birds, as well as their predators.  I find that the owls and hawks rarely hunt at the bird blind, except in cases like approaching storms, or times of scarcity.  Besides there is plenty of escape cover provided at the bird blind for the birds.  Which may be another reason the owls seldom hunt there.

In the afternoon, I was checking trails and picking up sticks from the last bit of ice and wind.  The frozen snow was crunchy.  When I stopped to pick up a branch, I heard the sharp raspy whistle of a Great-horned Owl.  I glanced up to see two owls leap-frogging through the trees.  This was near the Dark Habitat on the Spruce Trail, an area where I often see owls as I walk the trails.

The Great-horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) is so named because of the feather tufts that resemble horns on its head.  It is funny, but I rarely see the tufts on the birds in the forest.  Usually I see their round heads and know that they are owls and not hawks.  It would be easy for one to see the round head and assume that they are looking at a Barred Owl (Strix varia) which is near the same size as the Great-horned but lacks the tufts.  The fact that Barred Owls are a little more active during the day is another thing that would tend to point one in that identification.  I have never heard a barred owl at Mariton, although I am always listening for the possibility.  Great-horneds have several characteristic vocalizations, and it is usually the sound that leads me to the sighting.  So, it is the combination of several clues (jiz) that I use in identifying Great-horned Owls.