Our owly neighbors

It’s late Tuesday night and I’m paying the price to go boating with Dave tomorrow. I had some “Fayette Woman” stories to finish, and I’m working late.

And if I didn’t know what that noise was, believe me, I’d be in the bed with the covers over my head.

The sound is like a couple of cats fighting, screaming, howling. Big cats. Wild cats. It goes on for a few minutes and then falls silent. Perhaps an hour will pass, and then it will begin again.
It sounds like it’s on our deck, and we have only the screen separating us from the fiendish cacophony.

I’m telling you this backward because if you are an outdoorsmen or serious birder you’d recognize this animal by his ordinary call: Hoohoo hoohoo, hoohoo hoohoo waaaah, also rendered as “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-allll?” With variations.

Yes, that’s a barred owl. The first we realized they were our neighbors, a human neighbor was having a couple of trees removed from her backyard, and the racket was awful. Added to the commotion was a family of crows who dive on owls and hawks just for the sport of it, but sometimes for lunch. Low and behold, we found the tree where the owl had gone, and watched until one bird finally came back after the tree-grinder had left. We wondered if she was nesting nearby, and began watching more carefully.

Now you’ll forgive me if I don’t tell you where the nesting tree is, other than between us and Peachtree Parkway, because there are still people in this world who would work the big birds harm if they knew where to find them. We know there are a few others who have spotted the owls’ nursery, and we implore them not to let this information fall into the wrong ears.

In the three or four weeks we’ve been aware of the birds’ activity, we’ve learned a lot about barred owls, the second largest owl in this part of the country, the largest being the great horned owl. The Stokes Nature Guides are very helpful with information on bird behavior, and describe the barred owl as being very vocal, and nearly as active in the daytime as at night.

They nest in old hawks or owls’ nests, or in hollows in trees, or even in a box built to their specifications. They may add a twig or two to the nest, but they don’t do much more than a perfunctory gesture to make it their own.

Here’s something we didn’t know about this bird. The male limns out a territory of about a square mile. I would have thought the nest would be in the middle of this lot, but actually it may be at quite a distance from it. The territory is apparently a hunting yard, although the books say not much study has been done on just how the owls use their territory.

In any case, the Hoohoo hoohoo call sound like it’s a great distance away, and the bird on the nest (usually the female) does not answer. That’s logical, isn’t it? I just wish it would work on those crows. We’ve heard the owl call from faraway, and in moments the crows mob the tree, apparently expecting the incubating bird to leave it and go meet her hubby.

She’s smarter than that. As long as the crows are there, she’ll remain resolutely on the nest. Give her credit, she knows she can defend that nest as long as she stays in it, but if she leaves, the eggs or owlets will be crows’ lunch.

At some point, she gets to eat, whether in the nest or in a nearby tree, possibly fed by her mate, but this is another thing that evidently requires more study. No one seems certain about where they eat and whether they swap jobs for awhile.
Sometimes they get to squabbling like all married folks sometimes do. “Why didn’t you answer me? I’ve been calling for 20 minutes.”

“You know I can’t just jump off these eggs with those crows at the door. Besides, you said you wouldn’t be gone so long. Is this how you’re going to help me when these chicks hatch and need to eat every 15 minutes around the clock?”

“You don’t plan to help me. I’ve spent all afternoon watching the ground. There’s a shortage of chipmunks this year and…”
Well, you get my drift. Sometimes they wake me, sometimes I sleep right through their arguments. It sounds very domestic and comfortable.

You can see and listen to barred owls on a Website that has been maintained for several years in eastern Massachusetts. It’s a wealth of information and just plain enjoyment. Find it at www.owlcam.com. Who cooks for you?