This week’s Photo of the Week features a barned owl bathed in sunshine!

I’ve never found it easy to find an owl when I am out with my camera.  Harder yet, getting an opportunity to get a photo of one.  With their nocturnal nature, they are active when I am not!  Still, every once in a while you get fortunate and have the opportunity to see one in the wild and then to get a photo of it.

You can imagine how excited I was to come across AND photograph this Great Horned Owl not once but twice!! 

Story Behind the Photo of the Week

A while back, I was driving around killing some time and, of course, I was looking for interesting things or activity.  Driving slowly down Swayze Mill Road, just beyond Hope Township’s lake and park, I notice a large bird perched in the tree line adjacent to a field.  I originally thought it was a Red-tailed Hawk but there was just something a little different.

“Let me check this out!” I thought to myself.

The breast of the bird was not the usual bright white, this bird had the sun shining right on it and it still looked fairly dark. Also, the tail seemed kind of short and the head rather round.  I’m pretty far away, couldn’t get a good look.  I parked my car along the road and stood looking into the field: “Is that an owl?”  I no sooner exited my car than two bicyclists rode by, remarking about the bird in the tree, then a car stopped and a woman remarked, “probably a Red-tailed Hawk.” She departed and a pickup stopped and he kind of liked the owl idea, but wasn’t sure and then took off, too. 

I took on the mission! Let me photograph my way into the field, five paces, snap a shot and repeat the process.  I don’t have a real powerful telephoto lens so to get close up photos I need to be somewhat close! 

As I do this, it becomes obvious this is an owl, a Great Horned Owl!  I am hoping this bird doesn’t take off AND I am also hoping I can find it on my camera’s viewing screen, which is not the easiest task. I much prefer the old look-into viewer on cameras! I get fairly close and the owl takes off, again landing a little further down the field along the tree line.  The field was getting wetter so I opted to return to the car.  I took a couple of photos and then drove off.

I rode around for about 30 minutes and decided to return.  I am again approaching the location and I see a couple walking their dog along the road. I also notice the owl right above them in a tree!  What luck!!  The lighting doesn’t make for a great photo even though I am almost under the owl in my car, So I open my door … but bye bye owl!  He went back across the field. 

I really enjoy this killing time, riding around looking for ‘STUFF’!

All About the Great Horned Owl

In my research about the Great Horned Owl, I read that it is also known as the tiger owl and shares the informal name of hoot owl with the barred owl.  An extremely adaptable, large bird with a vast range, it is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.  Its primary diet is rabbits, rats, mice and voles, although it freely hunts any animal it can overtake, including larger mid-sized mammals like skunks and opossums, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. 

In ornithological study, the Great Horned Owl is often compared to the Eurasian eagle-owl, a closely related species, which, despite the latter’s notably larger size, occupies the same ecological space in Eurasia.  It is also compared with the Red-tailed Hawk, which lives in the same areas of the Americas, eats the same prey, and shares similar nesting habits, but all by day. The Great Horned Owl is one of the earliest nesting birds in North America, often laying eggs weeks or even months before other raptorial birds. Nesting starts in January!

Here are some Great Horned Owl facts gleaned from numerous resources:

A powerful mottled brown predator, it is often over two feet in length with a wingspan often more than six feet. This in an impressive animal AND is a formidable hunter! With its long, earlike tufts, intimidating yellow-eyed stare, and a deep hooting voice, the Great Horned Owl is the quintessential owl of storybooks.  This powerful predator have talons (check the photos!) that can take down birds and mammals even larger than itself, and is one of the most common owls of North America, equally at home in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards and cities.

Great Horned Owls have the largest eyes of all terrestrial vertebrates.  Their eyes are slightly smaller than ours.  These bigger eyes obviously mean wider field of binocular vision at night.  However, as big as its eyes may be, they must turn their heads to take a look at prey!  While their eyes don’t swivel in their sockets, their heads can pivot 180 degrees in any direction.

Almost all prey is killed by the crushing power of the owl’s feet or by incidentally stabbing of the talons (take a look for them in the photo above!).  They then usually swallow the prey whole, when possible.  When the prey is swallowed whole, Great Horned Owls regurgitate pellets of bone other non-digestible bits about 6 to 10 hours later.  The Great Horned Owl’s signature method when dealing with large prey is to behead the victim before it is taken to the owl’s nest or eating perch.  AS I SAID – THESE GUYS ARE FIERCE!!!

The Golden Eagle is the sworn enemy of Great Horned Owls and their only true threat! However, young owls are particularly vulnerable to the potential predators like bobcats, feral cats, foxes, coyotes and raccoons.

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran

Charlie Fineran is Allamuchy’s Director of Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission Chairman and Allamuchy Historical Society President.