Meet Rusty and Iris, two Great Horned Owls who are both blind in their right eyes. They cannot live in the wild and they seem to really like each other, so they are the perfect owls for my breeding project as part of my vocal study on Great Horned Owls.
They moved in to their permanent home yesterday and already had a visit from the neighbors. Victor, my resident male Great Horned Owl, came by at 10:47 PM and did a bunch of wild hoots and squawks. Rusty didn't say a word, but after a couple of minutes Iris flew over to the side of the cage where Victor was and tentatively gave a quiet and hoarse hoot...like she hadn't used her hooter for a year. Her second hoot was better, and by the third and fourth things sounded as they should.
The hooting lasted only about five minutes, but Victor was back at 3:45 AM for a few more squawks, but no hoots.
There are three security cameras and microphones located in the breeding cage with Rusty and Iris, and you can view an online stream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/great-horned-owl-breeding-project.
You can help this research by posting a comment to this blog when Rusty, Iris, or the neighbor owls are hooting, chittering, or squawking. Just let me know what you heard and what time you heard it so I can que to that part of the recordings and save it for future reference. Three cameras are recording 24/7, so your help in pinning down the important parts is very appreciated, just like Alan Stankevitz told me about the wild hoots and squawks that happened last night!
I can hear a lot of birds in the backgound,lots of wind, but nary a hoot nor a squawk... Guess more will be heard at later hours -- which is great, as I'm a night owl myself! Thanks for all the work that lead up to this great live video! You have done a fine job!!
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October 30/10 5:34pm -- Rusty (I think) let out 4 or 5 good squawks! That was a first time experience for me! His beak didn't move and I can't see Iris. I'll leave it up to the expert!!
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9:17pm[EDT] 10-10-30 Some owl is hooting double hoots every minute or two... Very softly... Not long after food arrived
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Errrr 8:17pm [EDT]10-10-30 sorry...
ReplyDelete9:53pm [EDT]10-10-30 Continuing from 8:17pm [EDT] every minute or so there is a 6 or 7 part hoot coming very softly, it sounds to me, from outside Rusty & Iris' living quarters...
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Thanks for your observations Annie! The hoots you heard were actually Alice, my education Great Horned Owl, in the house. The squawks were a crow. But keep posting what you hear and I'll keep checking!
ReplyDeleteat 9:40 or so pm Iris was making lots of chittering sounds and doing lots of flying, I'm sure rusty was chittering too especially when Iris would get near her.at 10:06 an owl went to platform to eat.
ReplyDeleteHello Karla! on 11/26 starting at 9:42pm PST until 9:55pm PST there was alot of hooting and some other very strange sounds! I also thought i saw something fly by outside.
ReplyDeleteagain at 11:16pm, 11:23pm & 11:26pm PST some chittering and flying back and forth. Also they were sitting semi-close to each other on perch. still pretty active, I'm off to bed now.
ReplyDeleteThanks, HummerDad, for the great observations! Unfortunately I was messing with camera settings and lost my audio on the saved stream during that time. I'm betting the strange sounds you heard were Victor, my wild resident male, doing wild squawks and hooting. Check out a sample of his vocalizations at http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php -- go to Bubo virginianus and listed to the one labeled "excited." THANKS!
ReplyDeleteWow.. a whole lot of hooting going on at 3 am central time from dallas. the greyer one was perched on the back perch by the box and stayed there preening and watching, the other owl flew back and forth perching on the branch across from him. they continually hooted back and forth. the grey owl only hooted when the other left the near perch, the darker coming and going owl constantly tried to engage the other in the hoot fest. calling every 30 seconds or so. the greyer owl only hooted when the other flew off, but made now sound when the other was nearby, though that owl called continually when they were perched together.
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