Invasion of the Great Horned Owls

Throughout my entire life, I had not seen more than a handful of owls in the wild, but in the last month (actually exactly a month ago today, on November 16th) I have seen owls on three different occasions, all three of which were great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), not to mention the two times that I saw the great horned owl parent and chicks at my grandparents house in the few months preceding that!  The largest owl of Central and South America and the second largest in North America (following the snowy owl), the great horned owl is actually closely related to the snowy owl, despite their very different outer appearances.  Despite its name, the "horns" on the head of the great horned owl are really just tufts of feathers.  The great horned owl is labeled as "Least Concern" by the IUCN. Also, this post is a birthday post for Joseph M. Roessler, happy birthday big guy!

One of the most notable features of the owls in general are their incredibly flexible necks.  Most birds of prey likes hawks, falcons, eagles, and vultures, have their eyes on opposite sides of their head.  Owls, however, like we humans, have binocular, or stereoscopic, vision.  This means that owls have to turn their heads a lot more than other birds of prey might in order to look all around.  In response to this, the owls have evolved the ability to turn their heads around 270 degrees, in either direction!

One of the great horned owls that my grandparents had in their backyard for a few months

Another interesting ability of the great horned owl, and owls in general, is their interesting method of digestion.  Birds nowadays don't have teeth, so they are unable to chew their food.  So most of the time, they (owls amongst them) swallow their food whole if they are unable to tear small chunks off of it.  This also means that the owl swallows the indigestible bits of its prey, such as the bones and the fur.  So after their meals, owls will regurgitate balls of the indigestible materials, colloquially referred to as "owl pellets!"

The great horned owl, more so than other owls, has an amazing crushing grip in its talons, around 300 pounds per square inch, which is more than the human hand is capable of!  There are also reports of cases in which the power exerted by the talons of the great horned owl matching those of much larger species of bird of prey, like the golden eagle.  The great horned owl is also capable of lifting prey that is several times heavier than they are.

What's on the menu for the great horned owl?  Where to begin!  Let's break it down by group, and give a few examples of each.  I am by no means including all of its prey items as that would take an immense amount of time. 

• Mammals
• Porcupines
• Skunk
• Domestic Cats
• Small or young domestic dogs
• Rabbits and hares
• Muskrat
• Squirrels
• Weasels and martens
• Shrews
• Lemmings
• Voles
• Bats
• Armadillos
• Mice
• Flying Squirrels
• Rats
• Marmots
• Birds: 
• Turkey
• Great blue heron and other herons
• Woodpecker
• Crows
• Pigeons
• Quail
• Gulls
• Ducks
• Other birds of prey, such as red-tailed hawks, snowy owls, and other great horned owls
• Misc.
• Young alligators
•  Amphibians
• Scorpions
• Worms
• Insects
• Crustaceans
• Centipedes
• Roadkill

Where did I see the owls?  The first one was exactly a month ago when my friend Masaki Kleinkopf and I were heading back from seeing the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, which was really really good (but not as good, in my opinion, as The Hobbit, which we saw last night and which was fantastic).  We decided to take the back way, the bird of prey route between Boulder and Superior where one can frequently see red-tailed hawks, kestrels, turkey vultures, and golden eagles.  Instead, we saw a great horned owl!

A picture of one of the red-tailed hawks that I took yesterday on the Bird of Prey Route.  Not only is it an amazing bird in its own right, but it is also potential prey for the great horned owl.

The next two sightings were actually yesterday and the day before.  The first one was when my other friend Mona Kamath and I were driving along West 120th Ave., and we saw a great horned owl perched in a tree!  Yesterday, on my way home from the Morrison Museum, I took a brief detour to see if the owl was still there, and he was!  Not in the same tree, but in another tree that was quite close by!  How exciting!  Enjoy the pictures! 

And remember, if you have a birthday coming up, just email me the date at cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com with the date and your favorite animal, and I will do my best to get a post in!  And remember, if you like what you're reading, make sure you LIKE US ON FACEBOOK, follow us (if you have a google or gmail account), or hit the subscribe button off to the right if you don't!

The Animals of Estes and Rocky Mountain National Park

As I mentioned earlier today, my family and I stayed at Estes Park a few nights ago.  During the day, we hit up the nearby Rocky Mountain National Park.  We saw a few different animals, a few of which I unfortunately was unable to get pictures of!  Here I will tell you all about the animals that we saw there!

First off, we went over to Lake Estes.  Despite the cold and the wind, probably a hundred or so geese, ducks, crows, and ravens were all scavenging around in the shallow water and the muddy areas.  We also saw a bald eagle, but unfortunately it was too far away for us to get any pictures.  Right before that, though, we spotted a muskrat (a little, water-loving rodent) swimming through the water!  It was really super cool, as it was an incredibly powerful swimmer!  We were walking along next to it, taking a ton of pictures and videos, but the muskrat was easily keeping pace with us!  It was swimming against the current, as well as against the wind, but somehow this rat-sized creature was able to forge ahead!

The muskrat swimming!

This is how far the muskrat swam!  It was certainly more than 100 yards, all keeping up with us!  CRAZINESS!

When I ran out in front of the muskrat to get pictures of it up close, it ducked into its burrow.  We were able to pinpoint the entrance because right out in front was a whole pile of what looked like chewed off crayfish pincers! 

The pile of chewed crayfish parts outside of the muskrat burrow

Some chewed parts on top of a rock

Here is a video of the muskrat swimming:

Muskrat Swimming Against The Current

We also saw a lot of elk, as we have talked about before.  Here are some more pictures that my mother took in the morning, around the same time that my Primos Truth Cam was picking them up, too!

The elk drinking on our first morning there!

An elk drinking on the first morning

 

When we first saw the elk right next to our cabin, a male mule deer walked right next to my mother and I, no more than ten feet from us while we were next to the river!  It was really cool, but a little sad to see how comfortable these animals are around humans.  Made for a good photo op, though!

The mule deer

That's our cabin, right there!

A male elk on the first night there, around the time that we saw the mule deer from above.  It was eating from a bird feeder!

While we were on our walk around Lake Estes, we passed by a male elk with a harem of four females on the golf course.  Here are some of those pictures!

The harem of female elk off to the left, while the male is grazing on the right

The male elk

The female elk

Another shot with the female elk off to the left and the male elk off to the right

And finally, a herd of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park!

Finally, although no one but my father saw it and we got no pictures of it, while we were driving in Rocky Mountain National Park at around 4:00 or so in the afternoon/evening, we almost ran over an ermine (also known as a stoat or a short-tailed weasel)!  Apparently it was adorned in its winter fur which, much like the arctic fox, changes with the seasons to blend in with its environment!  The ermine, along with otters, badgers, other weasels, and the wolverine, is a member of the family Mustelidae, colloquially referred to as the "mustelids."  The mustelids, in turn, are members of the superfamily Musteloidea, which we have discussed in the past.  It is within this superfamily that you will find coatis, raccoons, skunks, and red pandas. 

Estes Park on Dwellable

Birds of Prey on Marshall Road

Today, my friend Mona Kamath and I went out to find some birds of prey along a little side road off of Marshall Road between Boulder and Superior in Colorado.  We saw an abundance of them on this trip, perhaps more than on any other trip.  The only other trips that I can remember that could rival this one were one where I saw red-tailed hawks, kestrels, and turkey vultures, and another one where I saw red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, and a golden eagle.

Today, we were rewarded with not one, but two golden eagles!  Below are some pictures taken by both me and Mona.

 

 

 

 

We also saw a number of turkey vultures circling overhead, and a pair of them perched on a fence nearby.  However, by far the most exciting vulture spot of the day was when a juvenile turkey vulture landed right behind us!  I stopped the car and Mona was able to snap a few pics.  Not quite as exciting as the time a few weeks ago when I was on this road, and saw a pair of turkey vultures and a bunch of magpies fighting over the remains of a small carcasses, maybe thirty feet from my car!  Note how similar the juvenile turkey vulture looks compared to black vulture adults.

 

I also saw a bird of prey perched upon a lamp post in the middle of Superior.  I don't know what kind it is, so if anyone can help me out with that, that would be awesome!  Anyways, here are a few pics of it:

 

 

One of my most favorite bird of prey moments on this road was perhaps a month or two ago when I saw a pair of hawks flying along calmly next to each other, and then they suddenly locked talons.  I'm not positive, but I believe that it might have been a courtship display!

Boulder on Dwellable