Great Horned Owl

Let's start this new process off with something fun. We have Great Horned Owls in our neighborhood! And rumor has it, there were also some owlets, or baby owls, in our midst as well. The young owls and parents were seen near Saint Peter and Paul Church on Adams last week.

I went on a walk in search of the owls. As luck would have it, a balloon in a tree caught my attention and as I looked up, I saw this beautiful adult.

Unfortunately I don't have the best camera for these types of shots and it was getting dark, so the pictures aren't very good. (If anyone does have better pictures they would like me to post, feel free to e-mail them to me).

Bill Mannan, at the U of A, has done quite a bit of research on urban raptors. He has some interesting things to say about raptors, much of which makes me think we are lucky to have their presence in our neighborhood.

Typically, Great Horned Owls will nest in areas that are moderately developed, as opposed to a more urban area like downtown. They depend partially on other raptors like hawks by occupying their nest sites. (From what I was told, these owls took over the nest of a hawk and the church had mixed-feeling because the hawk had been eating the pigeons which were becoming a nuisance). The owls will also nest at the cup-like form that is created at the base of some palm trees or at man-made structures with the right conditions. The presence of large Aleppo pines and eucalyptus trees helps raptors, who use them to hunt from and nest in...and indeed this owl was seen in an Aleppo Pine.

Here are a few other interesting facts about the Great Horned Owl:

• They occur all over the U.S. and parts of Canada, making them one of the most wide-spread species of owls.
  
• They weigh from 3 to 4 pounds, are 18-25" tall, and have a wingspan of between 3 to 5 feet. The females are typically bigger than the males.
• They use their ear tufts as a form of communication, moving them in certain ways to convey different messages. If they are irritated, the tufts lay flat, if they are inquisitive they stay upright.
• Their call sounds like they are saying "Whose Awake, Me too" in a series of deep hoots.
• They are one of the earliest spring nesting birds.
• They eat a variety of prey including cottontail rabbits, squirrels, mice, snakes, scorpions, other birds, and even cats and small dogs. (Keep an eye on your animals).
• They can rotate their head 270 degrees. Amazing!

These facts were found at DesertUSA and where you can find more interesting facts if you click here.

Something New

I'm finding that my previous notion of creating a block by block account of our neighborhood was perhaps a bit too ambitious for myself at this point in time. The effort that it takes to locate each item of interest on the aerial photo is a fun way to document where interesting things occur in our neighborhood, but it also takes a considerable amount of time.

So, I think I'd like to try something new. Instead of discussing topics in a particular order based on each block, I think I will try posting general topics that are relevant to the neighborhood. I'll still take pictures from around the neighborhood, but I might not always locate them with a map. I think this will offer more freedom to talk about neighborhood topics and still be interesting and fun. What do you think? :)