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.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
New Girl on the Block
Life just got a lot more interesting (and hooty)! A couple of days ago a new female started hooting right in the yard. It was the same day that Victor and Virginia, the wild resident pair, had already been hooting at the edge of the yard.
This new female hooted all night and into the morning. I got audio recordings of her and even photos! The crows were mobbing her, but she seemed determined to stay right in our yard, right by the house. She even perched on the side of BOTH of the artificial nests I have up in the pine trees!
This new female wasn't a one-day wonder. She's stuck around. And she hoots allllll the time. You can hear her on the live video feeds on Ustream and Cornell. Rusty hoots back at her, and so does Alice from inside the house.
This new gal is awfully cheeky. Not only does she hoot all night, late into the morning, and even in the afternoon, she has landed on Rusty and Iris' cage. To top it off, last night we heard a loud THUMP--something had hit the window in front of which Alice was perched. It was dark outside and the light was on inside, so I'm sure Alice was easy to see. Judging from the marks on the outside of the window, I suspected the new girl.
This morning at 6:30 Alice was sitting on the same perch as I walked by. And a Great Horned Owl flew right at Alice's window, veered at the last second, and landed on the roof above us. Then I was certain it was this owl that had thumped the window the night before!
I don't think she's got a mate, or if she does, he hoots very little. But if she does, I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope she nests in the yard, even though it might drive Alice and Rusty and Iris (and therefore US) crazy.
In the meantime, I need to come up with a name for her that reflects her bold and cheeky personality.... Any suggestions?
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What fun to have a new wild owl. It explains the enormous amount of hooting. Would Victor and Virginia allow another owl to nest in their territory?
ReplyDeleteWhen I looked at the video,the name Isabella popped into my mind. Hope she chooses one of your nests. MapleOwl
I'm new to the site and learned of the Festival of Owls via boyscouts. We are planning to include the activities in our weekend plans!
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed watching many of the video posts and can't wait to share them with my daughter, who has been collecting owls for the past 6 years. She's 11 now. Thanks for all the hard work you have done and continue to do with the owls. It will be fun to follow your work and see if your new gal sticks around.
I suggest Tasha for a name, the way you describe the new owl 'cheeky and bold' makes me think of her.
hey it's aurora again, thought you might be interested in these 2 great horned owl cams as well, one is at valmont, 2 eggs laid, and I just found another one on ustream http://www.ustream.tv/channel/oms-owl, no sound with that one, I believe the actual cam is inside the window.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.peregrinefalcon-bcaw.net/viewtopic.php?f=164&t=436 I believe the valmont cam does have sound.
Thanks for the links! I knew about Valmont, but not about the other one. :D
ReplyDeleteHave you named the new owl yet? How about Bernardette, which is the pet form of the French name Bernarde, meaning "bold as a bear." or Dara, which is a Middle English name meaning "brave, daring." It would be exciting for you to have 3 pairs of owls and Alice at your place. Candace Havely, Iowa
ReplyDeleteOr Cassandra. It means " Inflaming men with love." No wonder Rusty is hooting and Iris is sometimes a bit out of sorts. MapleOwl
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to report that between 11 and midnight ( EST) I heard a sound being repeated at intervals that I had never heard before on the cam. It sounded like a zipper going up very quickly. After a while, I thought it sounded rather like an owlet begging. Could it have been Iris trying to get Rusty to bring her some food? MapleOwl
ReplyDeleteNice catch MapleOwl!!! That's an adult squawk. I won't have time to listen long enough to figure out if it's Victor (I've heard him do this many times) or if it's the New Girl (I think she's done it once that I've heard.) I'll review it after the International Festival of Owls is over next week. THANKS!!
ReplyDeleteHope you all are having a great time at the festival.
ReplyDeleteSome interesting stuff that happened tonight: around 1:15am (Central time, Saturday morning) Rusty seemed like he was trying to present a gopher to Iris (and making some interesting noises. They bonded a couple of times (most notably at 6:00am) and Rusty's been doing his grunting vocalizations all night, along with hooting back and forth with one of the wild owls. At 2:05am or so, there was a pretty loud noise from outside the enclosure, along with some hoots, like maybe a wild owl was flying up to them. At 1:50am and 6:15am, the owls seemed to show some interest in their nest. At 2:38am, there were some interesting vocalizations.
Anyways, I don't know if any of this is worth noting, but I just thought I'd share some of the highlights of the evening.
Then at 6:50am, Rusty again picked up a gopher and brought it to Iris who was standing on the perch. This time she took it from his mouth! It seems like such a tender gesture, very sweet to watch.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the excellent, excellent, excellent observations. I won't have time to review the videos until Monday-Tuesday, but good things are going on. I'm very anxious to hear if the odd vocalizations outside the pen are Victor doing hoots and wild squawks, or if the new female is making these vocalizations.
ReplyDeleteKarla, What has happened to cam on this site. been a while. any idea when it'll be back on. Love new owl she is beautiful. I did'nt know about v&v being there, are they in a cage too or wild?. late at night there is alot going on. can't wait til this site is back. TY Jackie Theisen
ReplyDeleteV&V are two wild GHOs that were already in the area. So Scarlet maybe trying to woo Victor or Rusty...
ReplyDelete"As the owlbox turns."
10:15 Everytime I pop in, Rusty is hooting and copulating with Iris! I'm amazed by the news about a new female in the area!! You are practically overun with GHOs!!
ReplyDeleteI hope the festival is doing well! Wish I was able to attend this year, but next year for sure!!
Thanks for all the exciting news (as if you need more on top of the festival!!). Annie
You might like to check your films for hootings during the 10:00 to 11:30 pm. EST period last night. Not only was Rusty hooting but there seemed to be hooting between the wild owls far in the distance. A lot of different cadences in the hoots, it seemed. MapleOwl
ReplyDeleteWolphie, I had never heard there were wild owl's around(v&v), so, could of been them some night's i'd hear from a distance tho, then about 16th of feb. started hearing an owl right at Rusty's cage & the rukus & hooting. & sounded like owl right inside other cage, even tho did'nt think 1 could get in R&I sure were acting up that night. TY for info & is Scarlet name of name the new fiesty owl?.. because she is bound to find a way to get to them , watch many night's & the sound's are some i can't figure out. wish there was an out side cam to see all the new owl going's on, bet we'd be very surprised. Jackie Theisen
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to post that i guess Karla is gone, but cam has been off a long time b4 that & the 1 at Cornell has stayed on. some one must be feeding R&I & no word on why no cam for soooo long. missing alot. any idea on why or when it'll be back on? waiting patiently or trying too.. Jackie (missing owl's)
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to get the Ustream nest cam up this week. I was swamped the past week with our International Festival of Owls, so had to just leave everything as is. Adding the Ustream nest cam feed seemed to be making the overall cage cam crash, so I'm leaving it offline until I'm able to do some major computer updates here this week. Thanks for your patience!
ReplyDeleteThank You Karla, It's just hard not knowing & missing so much too. I know you were at festival & busy. wish we could see out side & new owl that would be so Great.. love new owl she is a beauty.. any name yet?.. Jackie Theisen
ReplyDelete