On these frigid December evenings, Georgia’s courting big owls are hooting it up.
They are the great horned owl and the barred owl, two of Georgia’s bird species that begin nesting in winter. Although they may hoot year-round, their calls become more vocal and vociferous in late autumn — as if announcing that winter is drawing near.
For the big owls, winter is the time of love and courtship. Their hoots may attract mates, reinforce the bonds between pairs and mark individual territories as they prepare for their breeding seasons. (Georgia’s other big owl, the barn owl, does not hoot.)
Around sunset now, you might hear the amorous great horned’s haunting, muffled “hoo-hoo-hooo hoo-hoo” resonating from the woods or through suburban parks and even backyards. Deep hoots come from the males; the larger females respond with slightly higher pitched hoots in a duet that may last for hours.
Barred owls announce themselves with their deep “who cooks for you” hoots — but probably not in the same territory with great horned owls, whom they fear.
Beginning about mid-December for the great horned owl and mid-January for the barred owl, the birds will get down to baby-rearing.
Neither species, though, builds a nest. Barred owls often use natural tree cavities, about 20 to 40 feet high. They also may use old nests built by hawks, crows, squirrels and other animals, as well as human-made nest boxes.
A great horned owl also will use abandoned nests of other creatures, mostly red-tailed hawks. Sometimes, though, it will eject the occupants of an active nest and move in. The displaced creatures likely won’t argue with the great horned, known for its fierceness.
By Christmas Day, great horned owls may be incubating two to four eggs; barred owls may be doing so a month later.
Nesting in the dead of winter carries risks, such as eggs getting cold and failing to hatch. So, why do the owls do it? A main reason is that they are large birds, and it takes them more time to hatch eggs (about a month) and longer for their young to grow and mature than, say, a spring-nesting songbird.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be last quarter on Monday. Venus, low in the east, rises just before dawn. Mars is high in the east at dusk. Jupiter and Saturn are low in the southwest after dark.
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