Winged Tiger: Great Horned Owl
BY MORGAN
Have you ever heard the deep hoot of an owl late at night? You’re most likely hearing a Great Horned Owl! I chose the Great Horned Owl, also known as bubo virginanus, with an average lifespan of 12 years in the wild and 25-30 years in captivity with the oldest recorded living to 50. (Hawk mountain sanctuary) After visiting the UC Davis raptor center and falling in love with the owls there, especially Forest, the 10 year old Great Horned ambassador owl, I decided to share the fascinating species to as many people as I could. With beautiful yellow eyes, striking ’horns’, awe-inspiring flight, and intimidating talons, and many more fascinating features and relationships with other animals lead to being one of the most interesting birds in North America. The trick to silent flight, their rivalry with crows, the importance of this keystone species, and the terrifying strength behind those soft feathers all add to the sum of this awe inspiring bird of prey
Silent flight: one of Evolution's greatest works, allowing these sneaky predators to hunt without being heard, leading to large owls like the Great Horned flying quieter than the Hummingbird, which is as little as 0.069 ounces in the smallest subspecies. How do they do it? “The wing feathers of an owl have a stiff leading edge and are softly fringed on the trailing edge. These traits affect the way air flows over the wing, and prevent the whistling sounds made by other birds in flight”(Alaska department of fish and wildlife). Being the second largest owl species in North America right after Snowy owls yet being quieter than a mouse, likely lead to their nickname “The Winged Tiger”
You may want to find a Great Horned owl in the wild to see their beauty for yourself, if you do, look for a murder of crows attacking something in the trees or a bird in flight. Crows and owls are rivals, and the reason owls fly mostly at night. Unlike popular interpretation, owls can see just fine in daylight, which begs the question, why don’t they hunt during the day? The truth is, if owls fly during the day, they will get mobbed by crows, leading to night simply being safer. But the reverse is true for crows, when night falls, the tables turn and then the owls can mob the crows. This leads to them being opposites, night and day, silent and loud, elegant to sloppy.
These owls may seem cooler than crows, but are they more important? Great Horned owls are a keystone species like the Red-tailed hawk and Wolf. What is a keystone species? A keystone species is a species that holds up ecosystems, with either herbavation or predation, and causes a significant change in their habitat when they disappear or decrease significantly. For example, when the Grey wolf returned to Yellowstone, elk started moving again leading to willow and aspen tree population coming back leading to beaver population coming back and many more changes that are still happening to this restoring ecosystem (Yellowstone National park). What do owls do to hold up the environment? The Great Horned keep the population down in smaller rodents and predators, which in turn keeps local plant populations up which helps larger herbivores too(East Bay parks).
Talon grip strength and ability to kill animals 20ish pounds or even a bit more These fluffy birds may seem cute, but they hold terrifying strength behind those feathers, their talons are designed for catching and killing prey along with a hooked beak to tear food when catching larger prey (National park service). “Long, sharp talons and strong feet allow these owls to grip their prey with up to 28 pounds of force, enough to severely damage a human’s fingers”(Owl Research Institute). These terrifying predators can kill things three times their weight and are partial to skunks, which on average weigh 13 pounds which occasionally leaves them vulnerable as they tear their prey into pieces to transport.
While these birds of prey are majestic and may make you want to own one, it is illegal without falconry permits. Along with that, if you see one in the wild you can watch from a distance, but these are wild animals and not friendly. With habitats decreasing due to humans, it’s important to let them mind their own business, and instead go to zoos or conservatory’s to see these fascinating creatures such as the the Living Coast discovery center.
Works Cited
APPENDIX E KEYSTONE and INDICATOR SPECIES and LOCALLY RARE and UNUSUAL PLANTS. www.ebparks.org/sites/default/files/WHRRMP-Appendix_E_-_Keystone_Species-Plants.pdf.
dfg.webmaster@alaska.gov. “Alaska Department of Fish and Game.” Alaska.gov, 2023, newsrelease.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=owls.features.
Farquhar, Brodie. “Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem in Yellowstone.” Yellowstone National Park, 22 June 2023, www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wildlife/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem/.
“Great Horned Owl | American Bird Conservancy.” American Bird Conservancy, 2010, abcbirds.org/bird/great-horned-owl/.
“Great-Horned Owl | Hawk Mountain Sanctuary: Learn Visit Join.” Www.hawkmountain.org, www.hawkmountain.org/raptors/great-horned-owl.
“Owls - Big Bend National Park (U.S. National Park Service).” Nps.gov, 2024, www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/nature/owls.htm?simple=true.
The snake that I choose to research is a plains hognose, or Heterodon nasicus. The plains hognose grows from 15–26 inches, and The lifespan range is 9-19 in wild and 15- 20 in captivity. This species is a burrowing species, which is why they have a pointed nose, along with this, the plains hognose uses their noses to dig for amphibians such as frogs that make up their diet in the wild.
But the most interesting feature of the hognose is their defense mechanisms. Some of the less interesting defense mechanisms is to flatten out their head to look like a cobra hood, hiss loudly, and make ‘bluff’ strikes with their mouth closed. But the main reason I chose the hognose is their more dramatic defense mechanism, playing dead. When frightened, even hatchling hognoses will wiggle around, flip on their back, open their mouth and stick out their tongue. Along with this, hognose snakes can emit a foul smell and pop a blood vessel
in their mouth to complete the whole charade.
Sources
https://abcbirds.org/bird/great-horned-owl/
