Great Horned Owl

by Mollie Mondoux

The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) is one of the biggest of North America's owls, at about 18 to 25 inches from beak to tail. It has tufts of feathers on the top of its head that look like ears, but which have nothing to do with the bird's hearing, and it has yellow eyes. Its voice is a deep, obvious hooting - hoo, hoo-hoo-hoo, hoo, or three hoots. It lives all across North America wherever there is shelter in woods or cliffs, including deserts.

This owl hunts rabbits, rodents, birds (including crows), ducks, and other owls. Often, noisy flocks of crows or bluejays will discover a great horned roosting in the daytime near the top of a conifer and mob it.

Great horned owls have shown that they are very adaptable, finding a living in places changed by human invasion. For example, landfills are breeding grounds for scavenging rats, crows, and seagulls. All three are food for the great horned. Reservoirs, lakes and ponds in suburban parks attract various waterfowl, which are also food for this resourceful owl. The downside to the great horned owl's resourcefulness is that it puts it in close contact with insidious garden pesticides to ill effect.