A while ago I received an e-mail from my daughter, Telling me about this wild owl she now has. I knew about the Wolf that she has and the Tortoise, she keeps in the back yard. Tiger and I are on our yearly migration route, So we stopped by to see these marvels of hers.
Wow! To my surprise she has two wolves now and the owl. Traci is a naturalist and she uses these animals as educational tools. Most of these
animals are injured in some way and can’t survive on their own in the wild. So you get licensed (Mucho Bucks) through your state and spend about 4000 hours learning how to take care of them and you can have one. (These are not pets)
This owl is called The Great Horned Owl, because of its (tufts) or feathers that bear semblance to horns. This bird is just absolutely beautiful.
Most of us have seen barn owls, and heard the hoot of the owls at night, but until you have seen one alive and up close, it’s hard to imagine how striking these birds really are. Since I’m staying at the VFW #4647 here in North Highlands and we are having a BBQ ribs and chicken at the post this Friday night, We decided to bring the bird with us to promote the educational aspect of the owl. Most of the non-profit organizations ( like VFW, American Legion, Moose Lodges, Elks Lodges, and Eagles) do a lot of work with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other children of need. So to have an educational tool like this available to the post is a great advantage. So I introduced Traci to the Commander (Gary) at the post and to some of the members. Traci was mobbed for pictures and everyone wanted to pet the bird. (Sorry that’s a no-no)
Some Facts:
The great horned owl is a large, aggressive, and powerful. They hunt both during the day and night. They relish on frogs, insects, mice, rabbits, squirrels, porcupines, skunks and several other smaller birds, as well as cats and dogs. The owls can’t move their eyes like you and I . But they have a 14 neck vertebrae (The same as a giraffe) that can allow their head to move 270 degrees. These great horned owls hoot mostly in early winter, which is more of the pairing or mating time for the birds.
Great horned owls do not prepare their own nests, instead they take over vacant nests left by other birds. They also nest in tree holes, caves or stumps. The female owl lays 2-3 eggs in these nests and sits on them for a month or so. The live for about 50 years.
No matter how cute and adorable you find the owl chicks, think twice before you go near them. The owls are super protective of their young ones and will do anything to defend them. They are known to have attacked people who have tried wandering close to their young ones.
A humans grip is about 60 psi. This owl’s grip is about 500 psi. The beak is used for tearing met from the prey.
The talon’s are the main weapons of the owl.
I haven’t posted pictures of this event at the VFW, mainly for the privacy of the members. However I did list Traci’s website to the links of this blog. If you have questions feel free to e-mail her with any questions.
Till later keep healthy and safe, From Tiger and Stu
