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Re: Great Horned Owls courting



At 09:29 AM 12/2/99 -0500, you wrote:
>We always have GHOwls calling in the fall and winter.  How do you tell the
>male from the female call and how do you know that they are courting?
>
>\\    ~
>  \\_(o>
>   (   )        Mary Myers
>   ^ ^   Charleston, SC
>mmyers@nations.net

Female Great Horned Owls are larger than males and have a deeper voice.  At 
this time of year, if you hear two GHOWs, calling back and forth, one low, 
one high, you are probably hearing a courting pair.  The onset of cold 
weather and short days (long nights) seems to get their juices flowing.

[My apologies to Alex, but the call he mentions in his note sounds to me 
like a Barred Owl.  I think they begin their breeding activities much later 
in the winter or early spring.]

Norm
*******************************************************************
Norman Budnitz			919-684-3592 (day)
nbudnitz@duke.edu		919-383-0553 (eve)
				919-684-6168 (fax)

Dept of Zoology, Duke Univ, Box 90325, Durham NC 27708-0325 (work)	
4115 Garrett Drive, Durham NC 27705-8005 (home)

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