owl music

Great Horned Owls have been duetting the past two nights within earshot of our bedroom. The male hoots in a very distinctive rhythm; in musical notation it would be a quarter note, an eighth note, a dotted quarter, an eighth rest followed by a quarter note and another eighth rest followed by a quarter note (I have never figured out how to do musical notation in an e-mail). The female responses are similar but slightly varied and a fourth higher. Eventually she drops out but the male continues for quite a while. Is this the start of courtship for these birds? Great Horned Owls start nesting in the winter so they typically pair up and court in the fall. They don't nest here but are still fairly common in the Pine Barrens north of us (I have found single owls on the property only three or four times, usually because the crows put up a huge ruckus). So it was a bit remarkable to hear two birds in concert. The hooting was rather soft but this was perhaps due to the sound coming from some distance through the trees and through a partially open window.

The morning weather turned out quite differently from what I expected. After surmounting a few morning clouds, the sun emerged into a blue sky with moderate winds coming from the east/northeast. Birds were by and large hunkered down except for the woodpeckers (Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied) which were everywhere. There were some high-flying swallows (Trees mostly) and a few House- and Goldfinches finally appeared. Over the past two days, I've seen Eastern Phoebe, Northern Waterthrush and American Redstart plus the usual suspects. No sign of the owls in broad daylight; they either hide themselves in the foliage quite well (so that the crows can't find them) or they have moved on.

Eric Salzman