BPQ Bird of the Month

Protected by provincial law, our raptors represent a level of predator on par with humans – in the food chain that is. Intellectually, the wise old owl picture is rather debatable. Their brains’ frontal lobes are almost entirely taken up with the senses of hearing and sight, so there is not much room for other functions. But this ensures they are very good predators, capable of hunting entirely by sound on moonless nights. Don’t be fooled by the tufts of feathers on top of owl’s head- they are NOT ears, just tufts of feathers that they can lower or raise. Their wingspan ranges from 101 to 153 cm, their length is 55 cm and they weigh approximately 1,400 grams.

Great Horned Owls are often harassed by American Crows. In fact, if you should hear or see a large mob of crows, keep looking to see if they are harassing an owl or other raptor.  

Happy owling, but do keep warm!

To watch a video of a great Horned Owl, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g43BpJ3cb8I

Week 3

Once the owlet is well feathered, it becomes more mobile. They enter teenage hood about 8 weeks of age. And yes, they then can get into trouble quite easily. We have those exhilarating summer storms that sweep through our region bringing very strong winds. At this time, youngsters can easily get separated from home. Following one such storm I got a call about a strange bird in a backyard in St. Lazare. Armed with cage and gloves, we set off. The people had confined the young Great Horned Owl under a plastic clothesbasket. He just sat there calling a plaintive ‘jweep’. This was definitely not normal behaviour – he should have been very frightened of us, instead it almost welcomed the attention. Its behaviour when offered food confirmed that this was an imprint – but where did it come from? Oddly enough, the television station 4 Saison rang to ask about stories – obviously a slow news week – and we told them about this. They were excited and asked if we could re-enact the story. Phone calls later, all the players were ready and we ‘did our thing’ for the cameras. The owl did his too – his only interest really was in food and that he had in excess.  This story was screened and the rest of ‘Jweep’s’ story became known. A person had found two owlets some months before and reared them himself. Both were imprinted. ‘Jweep’ has gone on to be a wonderful ambassador for his species and raptors in general. His home is the Ecomuseum at Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. He is now 12 years old. Let’s hope he lives for the 20+ years they are capable of.

If their diet is adequate, owls develop and grow well. These birds have one of the longest apprenticeships of all birds, being cared for and learning from their parents until being evicted in September from the parental territory.