From Jason Fowler
This is why you leave owls alone when they are on eggs. People think the owl isn’t stressed standing under her talking loudly with other people.
I haven’t left this branch in 19 days.
It’s 4°F. The wind is 25 mph. The wind chill is -15°F. (That’s -15C, 40 kmh, and -26C respectively.)
I am a Great Horned Owl, and I am incubating three eggs that cannot survive one hour without my body heat.
- I cannot leave to hunt. My mate brings me food, when he can find it.
- I’ve lost 15% of my body weight since I started sitting.
-My feathers are caked with ice. I cannot preen.
- I rotate my eggs every 30 minutes, even at 3 AM.
- I have 9 more days of this before they hatch.
Beneath me, three heartbeats depend on my stillness. If I leave for 20 minutes, they die. If I shift wrong, they freeze on one side. If a predator comes, I must fight without abandoning the nest.
Motherhood is not a feeling. It is a 28-day siege.
There are lots of articles during owl baby season of people getting chased off, having their hats taken, etc. With the investment and risk the owls are taking to have babies, one can understand why they’re determined on keeping you away. They know what a danger you are, but they’ve put their lives on the line already to make sure their babies live.
I’m glad you didn’t get scratched! They’re just trying to be good owl parents.
I thought it was a little paranoid of the owl though, I’m on a beaten trail, even if it was after dark, and it’s not like I’m climbing trees or anything.
Unrelated owl news, I hear them where I am here, I wonder if they are why all the squirrels disappeared. I had fed birds and had over a dozen squirrels, and this last year they all disappeared, either an owl grabbed them out of their nests, idk if they do that, or a pine martin or something did. Chipmunks are unaffected.
Their territories cover miles, so if you’re in sight, you’re too close. They do seem to often choose unrealistic spots to get privacy, but since they can’t build their own nests, they set up shop where they can.
They try to hide evidence of where the nest is (poop, eggs shell bits, etc) to keep predators from sniffing it out too. So even if you don’t see it, they don’t know you’re not looking for it.
Owls will gladly snack on squirrels, but baby squirrel season is also starting around now, chipmunks look to have a later start.
But the squirrels are sleeping at night when the owls are most active, what I was wondering is if the owls find the nests and do night raids on them? I don’t see why they wouldn’t.
Owls are opportunists and will generally eat whatever they can get those grabby feet on. They will also extend hunting hours, often during winter, if they aren’t finding enough food at night.