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.
Thursday, June 06, 2013
Rusty Squawks and Emphatic Hoots
What the heck?!? Who knew Great Horned Owls made sounds like this??
The squawks and emphatic hoots Rusty is doing here are a very uncommon vocalization given by Great Horned Owls. I think Victor is the only other GHO I've heard make this vocalization, but I haven't heard him do it for a few years.
I've seen Rusty do it a few times, but generally there's absolutely NOTHING going on and Iris is snoozing when he does it. Victor did it the night Rusty and Iris moved in. Rusty seemed to have given up on hunting when he did it here. So what does it mean? No idea. I still need more and more observations to help figure it out.
Thanks to the people who reported it, otherwise I would have missed this important vocalization!
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Can't say I've ever heard this kind of vocalization from my owls but I can't observe them 24/7. Very strange. Funny to see the young one come over to check it out too.
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