(Bubo viginianus)
Great
horned owls have keen eyesight, acute hearing and are nearly silent when
they fly. These adaptations make them fantastic night-time hunters and they
are sometimes called "the tiger of the woods." They are the second largest
(just behind the Great Gray Owls) and the best known of the owl family.
Great horned owls live in just about every habitat type found in North America. Their success comes from their ability to adapt to available food sources. Whereas some raptors eat only one or two specific types of prey, these owls dine on nearly anything that moves, including rabbits, birds, skunks, geese, hawks, reptiles, frogs, rodents and an occassional porcupine. Like hawks, they swallow their prey whole or in large chunks, leaving the ground beneath their roost littered with regurgitated bones, feathers, fur and wads of other indigestible animal remains.
Great horned owls are 18 to 24 inches long with widely spaced ear tufts and a white throat. They usually call with four hoots. Their range is all over North America up to the northern tree limit. They lay one to six white eggs in old crow, eagle or hawk nests, usually on a rocky ledge.
Great horned owls are also extremely vocal, making a wide variety of sounds. They are best known for their series of four or five deep hoots. Even though the female is larger than the male, the female hoot is shorter and higher-pitched.
Click on photo to see a
juvenile great horned owl.
Meet "Stanley" our resident
great-horned owl.
Return to "Meet the educational
birds" page.
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