I wonder sometimes why Alice puts up with my "improper" behavior sometimes...it takes me so long to figure things out!
Alice has lived with us for over six years now, and I just figured out this fall that I'm supposed to go over to her and bow my head when we meet...for example when I first get up in the morning, or when she gets up in the evening. I'll go to the edge of her perch, bow my head, then she walks over to me and bows her head so close that we're almost touching. I've wondered if this should lead to some bill-rubbing or preening of each other, but apparently not! I get a little wallop on my head with her beak if I try anything like that.
I really do wish there was a book that explained how I'm supposed to behave as the "male" of a Great Horned Owl pair. So many little things to figure out...and each thing seems to take me years to catch on to! At least Alice isn't ready to give up on me yet.
She still likes to have almost nightly hooting sessions with me...but she starts out pretty rared up with some full-volume, emphatic hoots with the extra "HOO, HOO, HOO!" on the end, and she throws in begging calls here and there. Sounds quite weird. But after a few minutes she settles down into her regular monotone, tail-cocked hoots. She ALWAYS wants to hoot longer than me...somehow I'm just not into hooting with her for half an hour or more at a time. (Seems like either Alice or my husband winds up feeling neglected.)
Alice the Great Horned Owl is a permanently injured owl who works at the Houston Nature Center in Houston, MN and lives with her handler, Karla Bloem. Rusty and Iris are Great Horned Owls that are both blind in their right eyes and cannot live in the wild. Rusty and Iris are breeding in captivity as part of Karla's vocal study on Great Horned Owls. All together they have led to the creation of an International Owl Center in Houston, MN and an International Festival of Owls.
