Owl be Darned!

 I lay in bed one morning, listening to the who-whooo of an owl. It had been calling in the early hours, and sometimes in the middle of the night for the past month. Once the noise of the nearby freeway starts up again, it's almost time to get up, and too late to look for an owl. The owl is very sensitive to the slightest noise. When I first started hearing him, it was late at night. We agreed that I would wake Terry up if I heard it, and we were going to get out of bed to pursue it. No sooner had we gone to bed, then the owl started its hooting. 

I forgot, however, that Terry takes his hearing aids out at night. By the time I yelled into his ear, "It's the owl! Get up!", it was too late. By the time we had pulled on some clothes, and sneaked out the door, there was dead silence. Finally, one night, I lifted my curtain, which is right at the head of my bed, and actually saw a shape with a great pair of wings swoop down from the trees surrounding our cabin! That decided it; I had seen my owl. We counted it for our Year List, as a Great Horned Owl.

As a bonus, a park ranger at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco, TX, actually told us where we could see owls. At a grove of trees designated with orange cones, was where the Great Horned Owls hung out. High on a branch the dad peered down at us with his one open eye.

Male Great Horned Owl

The mum was on a branch in the next tall live oak tree. She was even larger. That's how it is with Great Horned Owls, the female is larger than the male!

They're both about as large as a Snowy Owl. [see blog post Jan. 2021]

Unfortunately, the baby was hiding that day, but apparently it was cute, with fluffy white feathers on each side. 

Then, the park ranger said, we could see an Eastern Screech Owl on the nest, in a wooden box attached to a tree. Police tape prevented people from getting too close. We sat down at a nearby picnic table, but we didn't see anything for several minutes as we munched on our sandwiches. Oh! There it was! Mum poked her head out of the box. Terry was able to get a picture of her as well. This species is smaller than the Great Horned,

The picture is a bit indistinct.

Eastern Screech Owl

One tuft of feathers on the bird's left is poking out of the hole. You'll have to imagine the corresponding tuft on the right side. The owl's right eye is closed, and the long piece pointing down is its beak.

We rarely have Eastern Screech Owls in Alberta, so that was a Lifer for both of us.

Enlarged version

The same weekend, our son reported seeing a Snowy Owl on Highway 21, back in Alberta.