Provincial Bird of Alberta

[The Cook]

Opened the curtains on the kitchen window this morning and was face to face ( through the glass) with the provincial bird of Alberta. Three feet away from this amazing creature, what a way to start the day.

[Ken07AOVette]

Mosquito?

[artie]

I think we should change it to the raven. After man is long gone from this earth I think the raven will still be around. Toughest bird I know.

[gitrdun]

Owls of all types are my favorite bird. That has to be a memorable visit.

[grouse_hunter]

Originally Posted by The Cook

Opened the curtains on the kitchen window this morning and was face to face ( through the glass) with the provincial bird of Alberta. Three feet away from this amazing creature, what a way to start the day.

That must have been quite the sight! Did you make eye contact with the owl?
My local pair was up to something a couple of days ago, hooting all night long! Perhaps owl love is in the air...

[The Cook]

Been watching him all day. Called a rescue centre in Cochrane as I was kinda worried he might be hurt and the lady told me that if he recently ate a large meal ( squirrel or rabbit) then he might not fly until he makes a pellet which I assume means having a dump. He dosen't look injured so will see what tomorrow brings. and yes I did make eye contact with him through the glass. Pretty amazing day, kinda feel blessed.

[FCLightning]

This cold weather is pretty hard on them. Hope you don't find him on his side in the morning. Happened once here.

[Junglefisher]

Originally Posted by The Cook

Been watching him all day. Called a rescue centre in Cochrane as I was kinda worried he might be hurt and the lady told me that if he recently ate a large meal ( squirrel or rabbit) then he might not fly until he makes a pellet which I assume means having a dump. He dosen't look injured so will see what tomorrow brings. and yes I did make eye contact with him through the glass. Pretty amazing day, kinda feel blessed.

Pellet is when they regurgitate the bones / hair of their meal.

[owlhoot]

Neat. I had to Google our provincial bird

[RZR]

There is a mother and 4 young ones living in the old barn, we see them every day. They don’t even put a dent in the gopher population in the summer time.

[Night hawk]

Owls are also my favourite birds. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to witness a big hawk, (red tail ?) & great horned owl doing battle ! They were on the ground down a lease road on my property The owl killed the hawk & had him in his talons but wouldn't drop his meal & fly even though I walked right up to em. Another time a sawwet owl, cute little bugger, was on a branch so close that I could of reached out & touched him. I noticed he had lost an eye somehow & I just hoped he'd be able to survive ok. Really cool birds !

[spoiledsaskhunter]

Originally Posted by grouse_hunter

That must have been quite the sight! Did you make eye contact with the owl?
My local pair was up to something a couple of days ago, hooting all night long! Perhaps owl love is in the air...

ours were at it to.....wonder how long it takes them to lay fertilized eggs. is it the same as being pregnant. this seems like a stoopid question to me, but never thought about it before.

[troutbug]

Originally Posted by The Cook

Been watching him all day. Called a rescue centre in Cochrane as I was kinda worried he might be hurt and the lady told me that if he recently ate a large meal ( squirrel or rabbit) then he might not fly until he makes a pellet which I assume means having a dump. He dosen't look injured so will see what tomorrow brings. and yes I did make eye contact with him through the glass. Pretty amazing day, kinda feel blessed.

Once formed, the pellet moves back into the owl’s glandular stomach. The pellet will remain there until the owl has finished absorbing all of the nutrients from its meal. That can take as long as 10 hours. At that point, the owl will regurgitate (vomit) the pellet and will be ready to eat again.

Definitely possible he was letting this process happen. Did you get pictures?

[The Cook]

I got pictures but am too technically inept to post. Just before dusk he was gone, went out and had a look and no sign of him. Thanks for the info on the pellet. I will try to post a picture

[ttankster]

Great Horned Owls are my favorite as well. I'm lucky enough to live in an area that has a healthy population. Last spring I was able to monitor 7 GHO nests. I have one at Ben's at the Art of Taxidermy right now... waiting my turn. I added one of my photos, not intended to derail this thread. Cheers.
Craig

[coyoteman]

They are without a doubt ,a magnificent,beautiful bird,while deer hunting near sundrie in a portable chair blind,i saw two at about 60-70m,i just happen to have a coyoty squeaker in my pack ,i gave a couple of squeaks two heads turned my direction,one flew to a fence post point blank---wow deadly silent,bad news and sudden death for all ground vermin-------

[farmer60]

Popular subject of many photo groups. Pair nest in our bush each year. Always amazed at how such a large bird can fly without any sound, whereas tiny chickadees or downy WP's, crows, ducks make significant noise.

[The Cook]

we usually have two squirrels at the bird feeder and lots of tracks from my wood pile up onto the deck. Today, not one squirrel chasing the chickadees out of the feeder and not one fresh track in the new snow. I like to think the GHO had a good feast.

[wwbirds]

Popular subject of many photo groups. Pair nest in our bush each year. Always amazed at how such a large bird can fly without any sound, whereas tiny chickadees or downy WP's, crows, ducks make significant noise.

Look up detailed pictures of their feathers as most birds have a hard edge to the feather which makes noise cutting the air. Owls have tiny fibres between each feather barb
so the feathers do not make any noise in flight

https://www.owlpages.com/owls/articles.php?a=7

[gitrdun]

I sincerely hope to not be derailing this awesome thread. Here goes. This summer was totally without magpies on our acreage. No surprise as a family of red tailed hawks were nesting in our trees. It was such a pleasure watching the youngsters learning to fly and hunt. However, one day I spotted a dead magpie hanging upside down from the branches of a spruce tree. What the heck? Then a few days later, another. This time impaled upon the barbs of my barbed wire fence. OK, so I had to investigate, Google was my friend. I came up with the "loggerhead shrike", AKA the "butcher bird". Check it out, interesting little fellar. They are most welcomed here.

[TrapperMike]

Took in a seminar last fall about the great horned owl. Didn’t realize how destructive they are. Will kill all kinds of birds and small animals, sometimes they don’t even eat what they kill. Was told that they have been controlling predators in south east part of Alberta for some years to help the sage grouse population, but it wasn’t helping. 2 years ago they added the great horned owl to the control list and the population jumped ten fold for the first time in years. It’s a toss up which is more destructive, the owl or the raven.

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by ttankster

Great Horned Owls are my favorite as well. I'm lucky enough to live in an area that has a healthy population. Last spring I was able to monitor 7 GHO nests. I have one at Ben's at the Art of Taxidermy right now... waiting my turn. I added one of my photos, not intended to derail this thread. Cheers.
Craig

That is an excellent picture!!! Perfect!