Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

The Owl Is Back

We have a great horned owl living in our area. He seems less active in summer, more in autumn and winter. He's outside now, hooting away. Fortunately it's a distant hoo-hoo (I think he's near the road) rather than right over my window going !!HOOT HOOT!! I like him as background sound, but up close he can get a bit distracting. I see him occasionally -- I even got within 20 feet or so once, when he was perched over the driveway.
Tags: illinois, nature, personal
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  • 6 comments
anamacha

anamacha

November 19 2008, 02:55:34 UTC 12 years ago

ah, you're rather lucky in that. Thanks for letting me know.

What have you named him?
lord_caramac

lord_caramac

November 19 2008, 09:09:06 UTC 12 years ago

Lucky you!

I saw a Eurasian Eagle-Owl once, huge impressive bird. That species is called "Uhu" (pronounced "oohoo") in German because that's how their calls sound.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Eagle-owl
ysabetwordsmith

Wow!

ysabetwordsmith

November 20 2008, 02:11:46 UTC 12 years ago

I didn't know eagle-owls were real; the only reference I'd seen before was in fiction by Mercedes Lackey. These are gorgeous birds!
carolf

carolf

November 19 2008, 16:05:17 UTC 12 years ago

We have sand cranes. Their call is a cross between a buzz saw and a machine gun. Exotic when they are down at their swamp headquarters. Erm ... noticeable, when they cross past the house to the other swamp where they keep a field station.

Deleted comment

ysabetwordsmith

Yes!

ysabetwordsmith

November 20 2008, 04:36:26 UTC 12 years ago

I can do that with screech owls and cardinals. When I was in Russia, I noticed that the cardinals there sing a little differently than ours do. It took me a few days to get it right, then they'd answer me too.

One time I had a lady cardinal in my yard fly up and perch nearby. She looked at me and preened. Then a male cardinal flew down and more or less shouted at me, and fluttered around trying to get her attention. She totally ignored him. I whistled, and he just went nuts. So I guess I'm sexy in cardinal.
ivy_broom

Re: Yes!

ivy_broom

November 20 2008, 16:15:51 UTC 12 years ago

Great story about your cardinal calls! LOL!

I am so envious of you and your owl! I love owls. I was gifted with
a gorgeous owl feather once, by a Native medicine women that I knew
a very long time ago when I lived in Northern Ontario. Like most of my worldly possessions that I had to leave behind in 2002, I no longer have the feather which has given me many, many moments of regret over the past few years.

This spring/summer when I started finding Hawk feathers in my neighborhood I learned that it is illegal to collect most migratory bird feathers even if you just find them lying on the ground as most people do. Hawks seem to do ok in big cities like the one I live in. Oh, and yes eagle-owls are pretty cool too!