Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 40
Great Horned Owl
Unknown artist, Birds, 1878
Bird

Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus
Owls (Strigidae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
A big, bulky owl with ear tufts, a rusty face, a white throat bib and yellow eyes that give it the look of a judge who has already decided.
Male & female
Alike, but the female is noticeably larger and her hoot is pitched higher.
Voice
A deep, soft 'hoo-h'HOO-hoo-hoo'. Pairs duet in late autumn and winter, the lower voice being the smaller male, which is the sort of thing owls find funny.
Diet
Nearly anything it can lift: rabbits, rats, skunks (it has almost no sense of smell, which is convenient), other owls, hawks, and the occasional cat.
Habitat
Any woodland with open hunting ground nearby, from deep forest to the edge of town.
Nesting
Takes over an old hawk, crow or heron nest, or a broken snag, and lays in January–February, sitting on eggs through snow like a very patient tea cosy.
Size
18–25 in long, wingspan 3½–5 ft, 2–4 lb: the weight of a two-litre bottle of soda, with the wingspan of a hallway door and strong opinions about rabbits.

Hooting intensifies from October as pairs set up for their midwinter nesting, so expect more of it on cold clear nights.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 18 calls on 3 days, first Oct 29, last Oct 31

4900:00 — 9 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 2 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 1 calls06:00 — 1 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 0 calls11:00 — 0 calls12:00 — 0 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 0 calls1516:00 — 0 calls17:00 — 0 calls18:00 — 2 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 1 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 2 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
612Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 1 callsOct 30 — 5 callsOct 31 — 12 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 31 12:18 am · 96% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 12:26 am · 85% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 12:26 am · 93% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 12:22 am · 94% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The great horned owl, also known as the tiger owl or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its diet consists primarily of rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles; it remains one of the few regular predators of skunk. Hunting also includes rodents, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates.
From Wikipedia, "Great horned owl", CC BY-SA 4.0.