All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

Great Gray Owl Nesting Habits

Year 9

Over the past ten years, early every June I manage to see Great Gray Owls up in Sax-Zim Bog. However, I have noticed that the hunting owls almost never take prey back into the forest, and thus a nearby nest. My curiosity kicked in and I found it hard to believe all the owls were juveniles … older than one year, but not yet of breeding age. Thus, started my own research.

I found a great study conducted by the United States Forest Service. It appears most of the Great Gray Owls seen in early June are moms who are newly re-independent. Apparently about 3+ weeks after the owlets fledge, the moms leave the area! Mom’s job is done, and dad owl now takes care of the owlets on his own, hunting for and feeding them.

You may download and read the full study from the US Forest Service. It is a worthy read on the life of the Great Gray Owl. Here are also two of my photographs from this June. Beneath the images you will find an excerpt from the forest service study.

“After about 3 weeks, the female no longer brooded the young during the day but perched near the nest. After about 4 weeks, the young owls left the nest (color plate A). Assuming, incubation lasted 36 days, as reported by Mikkola (1983) in Finland, the mean number of days in the nest was 26 days. Young left the nest between 14 May and 19 June. Nestlings raised at Spring left the nest earlier than nestlings raised in the other study areas (fig. 3).

…. continued later ….

After young left the nest, the female stayed near to protect them. Any intruder-person, beast, or bird-coming near the young was immediately warned by the angry hoots of the female. If her warning went unheeded and the intruder approached the young, the female frequently attacked. The male continued to feed both the female and young. After several days, the male usually took prey directly to the young, and the female caught her own prey. Some females also caught prey for the young. After 3 to 6 weeks, 11 of 12 females had apparently left the care of the young to the male; the females were at least 2 kilometers away, and we never saw them near the young again. One of these 12 females remained near the male and young for several months. Males continued to feed the young for up to 3 months after the young left the nest. After this time, the young started to catch prey on their own.”

 

Northland Osprey Check-In!

Year 9

When the rain moved through the area much earlier than forecast this morning, I decided to go check out the three osprey nests that are near my home. All three couples focus their fishing efforts in the Canosia Wildlife Management Area … or just outside it.

The Twig couple surprised me the most. Today is the last day of June, and they appeared to be courting in progress. While our spring was cold, and ice out was extremely late, today would be extremely late to lay eggs. However, the male was definitely bringing sticks back to the nest and smashing them into the female’s back … real romantic, huh?!

I found Steam Shovel Sam and Sally hanging out together (he is the osprey on the right). I was rather surprised once again when he left the nest with a sunfish. I would have expected the fish was a meal for his missus, or the little ones, but it appears he flew to the nest with the sunnie, and then left. Hmmm … I don’t think I ever took Molly out for dinner while we were courting, and then took her meal away w/o giving her a chance to eat!

The third nest was normal boring … thus no pics.

Nature’s App Notifications

Year 9,

Two nights ago I was up at our cabin on Northstar Lake, which is 30 miles north of Grand Rapids, and 100 miles northwest of Duluth. I have Nature 2.0 installed in my brain! What, not an Android or Apple app?! Nope, but my app is even better, and includes notifications which may NOT be turned off. Do you pay attention to nature’s notifications?

About 1:30 am in the morning all the loons on the lake started yodeling. I know from experience that when the loons yodel during the wee hours of the morning, a good northern lights display is often in process. Thus, even though the temperature fell to 41F that night, I threw on a heavy sweater over my pajama tops and walked down to the dock. The loons were correct. While I have seen much better Aurora Borealis displays, it was worth the short walk.

The next morning I found this Common Loon Mom and her nest. It will be fun to see her young. The nest is only 250 yards from our dock.