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snugglekittyThere is an owl that lives in our backyard, or near it, at least some of the time.
He's calling now - a soft, mournful hooting. (hoo, hoo, hoo) He gives a few calls every few seconds, sometimes for an hour or more. I wish I knew what tree he lived in or what we could do to make his life a little better. When I hear him, I feel less like I live in the city, and that's a good thing.
From looking on the web (check out owling.com and owlpages.com), and matching what is local to North America with call sounds compared to the call I've been hearing for years, it seems like this might be a long-eared owl, a male trying to attract a mate for the upcoming breeding season. (Does anyone know enough about birds to prove, disprove, or come up with a way to test this theory?)
Here's a link to some pictures of long-eared owls: http://www.owlpages.com/gallery.php?section=species&cat=Asio&sub=otus
The pages say that their movements are poorly understood, which makes ME feel a heck of a lot better, as I've sometimes thought the owl had moved on for good, only to start hearing it again. I hear him a lot in the summer. I'm pretty sure that today is the first day I've heard him in the past few months. And yes, I do mean day - he's always called most often in the early morning, but sometimes as late as noon, which I know is pretty weird for a bird that's supposed to be nocturnal. (An ornithologist friend of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
starkeymonster's parents says that basically, there's no explanation for this.)
Ever watch that show Backyard Habitat? I wish we could do something to our backyard to make it a happier place for him. Some kind of water source might be good. I wish to Goddess the over-enthusiastic tree company hadn't cut down the tree that wasn't dead last year. In fact, I wish they hadn't cut down either tree, but that's another story. And I wish we owned our house, so we could plant another tree...
He's calling now - a soft, mournful hooting. (hoo, hoo, hoo) He gives a few calls every few seconds, sometimes for an hour or more. I wish I knew what tree he lived in or what we could do to make his life a little better. When I hear him, I feel less like I live in the city, and that's a good thing.
From looking on the web (check out owling.com and owlpages.com), and matching what is local to North America with call sounds compared to the call I've been hearing for years, it seems like this might be a long-eared owl, a male trying to attract a mate for the upcoming breeding season. (Does anyone know enough about birds to prove, disprove, or come up with a way to test this theory?)
Here's a link to some pictures of long-eared owls: http://www.owlpages.com/gallery.php?section=species&cat=Asio&sub=otus
The pages say that their movements are poorly understood, which makes ME feel a heck of a lot better, as I've sometimes thought the owl had moved on for good, only to start hearing it again. I hear him a lot in the summer. I'm pretty sure that today is the first day I've heard him in the past few months. And yes, I do mean day - he's always called most often in the early morning, but sometimes as late as noon, which I know is pretty weird for a bird that's supposed to be nocturnal. (An ornithologist friend of
starkeymonster's parents says that basically, there's no explanation for this.)Ever watch that show Backyard Habitat? I wish we could do something to our backyard to make it a happier place for him. Some kind of water source might be good. I wish to Goddess the over-enthusiastic tree company hadn't cut down the tree that wasn't dead last year. In fact, I wish they hadn't cut down either tree, but that's another story. And I wish we owned our house, so we could plant another tree...
