The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutNovember 04, 2004 - Part 1_ the owl, in profile November 4, 2004 • The Suffolk Times ■ r . e 0 w . . � en r � WE'ue FouTUNa-rr To have a great horned owl in <>ur area.If we wakc at night we can usually hear his "Hoo,hoo-oo,hoo,hoo:'This night hunter gives us much pleasure,but during the daylight hours it attracts hordes of noisy crows.Hardly a day goes by He had a strong fence around thc pen and yet that the crows don't find where it's roosting.Once every night one of his prize ducks would be missing. the owl is found,the troops are called in to give it a He finally decided it must be something t1ying in over hard time,calling unmercifully and diving ancl flying his fence,so he set a trap on top of a post in the yard round ancl round in hopes of driving this archenemy where the ducks were kept.Sure enough,the next out of their territory. morning,there in the trap was a great horned owl. Now,this duck farmer was a person who didn't like to disrupt nature's scheme of things.He won- I first became acquainte wit t e great horned dered what he should do—"Should I kill owl years ago when I was ped- it`?"Luck was on the owl's side that day,for 1 dling my wares over on the happened to stop in to chat and after much FQCLJ$ south side.This was the time discussion I told him I'd take it far away and ON when duck farms were sprin- release it.We put the not-too-happy owl in a kled all along the waterways of burlap bag and off I went.A simple solution tha� NATURE Moriches Bay.I had gotten to saved the duck-grower's prize layers and one con- by Paul know one particular duck fused owl. Stoutenburgh farmer quite well and often stopped by to chat.He told me he was having trouble with That was my first expericnce of gctting a close-up something taking one of his laying ducks each look at a great horned owL I remembcr how it clat- night.These are special ducks that lay the eggs to tered its bill when it got excited.lt never lried to be incubated for the young ducklings.They peck or bite us,but we were very careful to keep would later be marketed as the famous Long away from those deadly claws.That's where the dam- Island duck. age would come from.Its claws are powerful and sharp.No wonder the great horned owl is called the tiger oi'the woods. There must be something special about our area because we have always had great horned owls around.Barbara and I can remember one moonlit night we heard a male calling in a tree just outside the house.We got up to see if we could catch a glimpse of it.Sure enough,after peeking out of one window and then another,we saw him.As we watched,in flew the female,who landed right along- side him.We'll not forget those two silhouettes side by side in the moonlight,talking softly to each other. We've gotten many calls from readers about great horned owl nests.There was a lady on Soundview Avenue in Southold,who some years ago had pur- chased a few acres of land behind her house just so Barbara received a frantic call at home d�at a great she would always have woods nearby.(What a great horned owl's nest had fallen out of a trec in East idea.) She called to tell us about a great horned owPs Marion and the young were on the ground,not yet nest in the woods.Of course we had to go up to see able to fly.Knowing I would be interested in doing it.And there it was—a great horned owl nestled something about it,Barbara called Town Hall and told down in a makeshift nest of twigs and leaves. me the situation.I quietly excused myself and called Owls don't build their nests in the usual manner, my son Peter to meet me at the site in East Marion. but use some other bird's nests—such as a crow's or Upon our arrival we saw three light-tan,healthy young a hawk's—or they might even use a broken-off tree owlets crouched down,looking a bil bewildered.The like the one Ralph Tuthill had in Mattituck.There,a parents were some distance away,watching.What to txee had broken off some 20 feet up,and a great do with them?We decided we'd make a temporary horned owl decided to usc nest and try to get them back into it. it as its nestin site. ��-��ru g ,�,��,�,,, �� We rigged up a bushel basket filled with We always , �'"�; '"�'""�`"�"' �M"�' °'y�,��, ,{ some of the nesting material and hoisted it up ,,�w�'i'� ' ,�i�l�M �''p �'"r marb�m . `T searched thc. w�,��^��, �»+�%" ;��,,,,�,�,�„�,�� , . " into the tree from which the original nest had pine trees ��"��,M""°�� "';�"y��' '� �«�r�� w; ��w,��, fallen.Then,ever so carefully,we corralled �n ' ,� �� '�'�� ,A � � �� ; • p�"�� &� �,,�� the young and carried them back up to ��,� �,�„� �' � � "� �,yr��'� � �� their new nest,where they soon settled �A°, �"'��+�,,;;�� '"�"�� '�� , !n, � ��``,„��'� �� '�«�� down.Believe it or not,it worked,and �� '"��"""�"*""�"""��"'"��'d�,��.� y ��! �� ""� � A M��'"�"�;%a�,,, for all we know the young were able a � ; � .� . ��,,,,„,� "' �"��"" ,i ,� ,!� � � �' �� ,�,,= to finish their growing,high in the �" �� b��^�,� �,�„,�p�"� � � �H ��,,� n� �' � ' lree in their bushel-basket nest. �'��'/�i ^°^�" "�`""�°„�, , �� , ,� �� H�1�� The only owl that can rival the great , � �"� .� , � , ,��, � ttr mr� �� .�,ry� � . �» , ,�� r, � � horned owl in size is the great gray ow1,an a��"�' a��- �'� �'ti""""��" �� , •�� owl of the far north countr We thou ht we a� �� ,�� ° �,, ��„ � g �� r� ��µ ,�M� � � �" �� %, would never see this magnificent owl down here, �,�.,,;�, " y,,; '-�� but then one day one showed up at the west end of �,a�;' , � ''��°� "�''� Long Island.People from all over went to see it ��r %�' �� Dennis �� '�""'�� `� � �*� and Barbara and I were no exceptions.We got r "� Puleston �""��,,� � to the general location and soon found a °�"�� did this '�;�"�� u�A�,�,� ��'' group of people,all with binoculars point- sketch of a reat � �"� ed up,so it wasn't hard to find the owl.All _� .. „ horned owl n 1961 � � � �a �� , � you had to do was follow the pointed binoc- for an article on !J , � ��">' ulars and it led you right to it.Its gray and owls that a� _'� " � �� ,,,/'` +''�� white markings blended in well with the big peared in a River- �, s�< � , � , �� oak it was resting on. �` �`�� % � �� We were sitting on the ground,leisurely head news- r� � �,v � � � ��;'� ,� ;,�a� �,� , � viewing this handsome owl,when all of a sudden paper called � The Sunday �� ;�� ,,��'� �"� ,�� it decided to take off.It headed right for us and Review. �� " °' f7cw just six feet over our heads.We'll never forgeC that great gray owl gliding noiselessly over our heads,its eyes making contact with ours.It's those miiii-adventures that make life so rewarding. Moore's Lane in Greenport for an owl ol'one sort or There are more owl stories I want to tell you,but another. It became routine not only to look for owls thcy may have to wait until next week.In the mean- there but to stop and look for pellets from thc roost- time I want to share something with you that hap- ing owls.Owl pellets are not,as you might think,the pened just this week in our home.Going through waste from a bird,but undigested feathers and boncs some old newspapers,we came across our very first tbat are upchucked and fall to the ground.By exam- 1'ocus on Nature articles that were written for The ining the pellets closely,you can tell what kind of Sunday Review in Riverhead.Believe it or not,the rodents are in the area,plus they're a fun thing to second article,written on March 13,1961,was about collect and figure out what kind of owl the pellets the great horned owl.Here is the last paragraph of came from. that article: One day while on Moore's Lane I happened to "Perhaps later on we can talk more about owls,as look up at a clump of twigs and leaves with my they are an interesting group.We have many owls on binoculars and there,almost at the top of one of the Long Island,the great Snowy Owl that invades us pine trees,looking down at me with its big ear tufts from the North,the Monkey-faced or Barn Owl that and yellow eyes,was a great horned owl sitting on We always associate with Church steeples,the Short- her nest.I had time to photograph it,as it never left eared Owl that roams the dunes and open country the nest,no matter how much I moved around and of course the little Screech Owl we hear from in below. the summer.These and others all have their own Another interesting experience I had with a nest- interesting stories to tell." ing great horned owl was when I was a councilman on the Town Board.During one of the meetings,