PDA

View Full Version : Interesting visitor



rockrat
11-03-2021, 11:19 AM
Yesterday morning, went outside to put the recycling in the trash can we use for said items. Saw a movement at the edge of my vision and looked up and in the willow tree in our backyard was an owl. First one I have seen around our place. Big bird!! Thought it might be a Great Horned Owl. Wife already had her phone out to take some pics and had googled owls in Colorado. Sure enough, it was a Great Horned owl.

And "Hootie" as the wife called it was back this morning

291188

Thumbcocker
11-03-2021, 11:22 AM
A beautiful hooter in a natural setting. Don't they usually travel in pairs?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Walks
11-03-2021, 11:44 AM
Had one of those fly across a road I was walking down, when I was a teenager. I remember it very well to this day. And Yep they are Big, wingspan 5+ft.

Ithaca Gunner
11-03-2021, 12:00 PM
The wife loves em. Too much! One night returning from town there was a young owl along the road, she wanted me to stop and pick it up so it could live at our place. I told her I would give her a pair of welding gloves and she could attempt to pick it up while I book a hospital stay for her!

fc60
11-03-2021, 12:50 PM
Greetings,

The Cheyenne view the Owl as the "Messenger of Death".

Cheers,

Dave

CastingFool
11-03-2021, 01:18 PM
Cool! I saw a bald eagle yesterday afternoon while coming home from voting. I noticed this big bird flying over the road ni, then it turned to fly over an open field. As it turned, I could see the white tail, turned again to land, then I could see the white head. It was cool, first time I've seen an eagle in the wild, especially this close to home.

Handloader109
11-03-2021, 03:22 PM
We've got a couple in the woods behind us. Mainly hear vs see them. One of them was on my cyclone fence last month. was looking out into the pasture, not inside at my dogs, but first time that close this year. Last year it was up in an oak tree in same yard even closer to the house, but somewhat hidden. in the tree. Big birds

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Winger Ed.
11-03-2021, 03:30 PM
Greetings,

The Cheyenne view the Owl as the "Messenger of Death".

Cheers,

Dave

A Hispanic buddy says that if you see an owl in the daytime, it's harbinger of death.
He told a story of an owl that attacked a screen window during the day of the bedroom where his Grandma was ill.
She passed away a few hours later.

lightman
11-03-2021, 04:01 PM
On of my Deer stands is in the bottoms and I often hear them right before daylight and just after dark. We had one in the neighborhood for a while. I liked hearing him but he wrecked havolic on the song birds. I was glad that he moved on. And no, I didn't assist him!

It seems like the Eagles are making a comeback around here. I know where there are several active nest and we usually find a new one about once a year.

rockrat
11-03-2021, 06:59 PM
Its still there, on the same limb of the tree, I just looked.
Once, when I was in my 20's, I was deer hunting and sat next to a tree and piled some small branches on me. About 20 min later, I heard a "whooshing" sound and my tree shook a bit. Looked up and it was a Great Horned Owl. It called for awhile, then left.

Hope the thing stays around for awhile, its really is a magnificent bird, and besides, our magpies don't like it!!

James Wisner
11-03-2021, 09:02 PM
Back in the mid 1980's on one of my many trips up into the High Country. I was up in this high basin just off the Cascade Crest, I had rode the horse in and set up camp, the weather was so fine, all the stars were out so I just slept on top of my roll. About midnight I woke up and could hear this owl calling on one side of the basin. I be danged, a bit later it stopped and a second owl started calling. That pair of owls worked that basin for about 2 hours. One would fly, land and call, while the other would just sit and watch for some food to stick its head out.

Nice to have them around, we have several Barn owls in the area and see them during the summer evenings.

J Wisner

Gator 45/70
11-04-2021, 11:22 AM
It's hunting the trash pile would be my guess, Had a number of different hawks that would visit my deer feeders everyday
Come zooming in after the squirrels, Word of caution
Snakes will lay close to corn piles waiting on rodents, So watch you're step close by!

MostlyLeverGuns
11-04-2021, 11:39 AM
I've had a pair of owls (Great Horned) living here since I moved here in 2004. Watched the young ones grow from fuzzballs most every year and hear them most evenings and mornings before first light, a simple pleasure. Occasional barn owl or long-eared owls have come through, once a snowy owl but the the Great Horned are resident.

5Shot
11-04-2021, 12:06 PM
I used to see a lot of them as a kid while running through the woods. One was only about 12 feet up in a tree when I ran up and spotted him. He just dropped off the branch and spread his wings and floated at least 100' without dropping more than 6'. Unreal how maneuverable they are for their size.

My wife had one fly across the windshield of her car one night and she thought it was some kind of Pterodactyl. : )

Mal Paso
11-04-2021, 08:21 PM
A beautiful hooter in a natural setting. Don't they usually travel in pairs?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

No, that's Terns, as in "one good Tern deserves another".

I think we have 5 different Owls here.

Scrounge
11-05-2021, 11:49 AM
Greetings,

The Cheyenne view the Owl as the "Messenger of Death".

Cheers,

Dave

They aren't the only ones. YA book "I Heard the Owl Call My Name" is based in the Northwest.

Bill

starbits
11-05-2021, 12:11 PM
I have a pair of great horned owls that live on my property. If I leave the big door open on my shop they will roost on the rafters and crap all over my stuff. Nice to see them and the young ones, but they do make a mess.

Bad Ass Wallace
11-05-2021, 04:48 PM
The "night life" is interesting around my farm. This is a tawny frog mouth!

https://i.imgur.com/iT6s1nMl.jpg