Great Horned Owl

[Ripon83]

Nice job echo1....good thing you grabbed a picture too. That made it even better.

In Alaska at one of the tourist spots

http://www.goldbelttours.com/mount-roberts-tramway/natural-wonders

They had a bald eagle they were caring for that would never fly again. The bird travels around being shown to kids during the non tourist seas and is fed pretty well all kind of things here during the summer. Damn ugly thing up close and personal - you can get within a couple of feet of him. I think my wife snapped a photo - I'll look.

[DaveInOroValley]

Reminds me of an ad that used to be in the back of comic books when I was growing up. You could order a Great Horned Owl for 25.00. In 1967 though that was a chunk of change for a kid. Great job on the save.

[Librarian]

Not impossible you saw something unusual, but birders are weird folks, in some ways, and rarities draw crowds. So, for example, http://tertial.us/yolobirds/yolo.html has a list of commons and rarities; no big owls on the rarities list.

Sibley doesn't show any North American owls (a) as big as or bigger than a barn owl and (b) as light colored as a barn owl other than the Snowy - and a Snowy Owl in California is as rare as a Republican (a real Republican) governor.

Sporadically they can be found as far south as central California as well as in Texas and Florida.

http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_an.../snowy_owl.php. There was one sighted in Suisun in 2007.

[77bawls]

They had a bald eagle they were caring for that would never fly again. The bird travels around being shown to kids during the non tourist seas and is fed pretty well all kind of things here during the summer. Damn ugly thing up close and personal - you can get within a couple of feet of him. I think my wife snapped a photo - I'll look.

IIRC San Francisco zoo has a horned owl. It was outside just chillin on a perch. Mikey Grove zoo has a pair of Bald Eagles.

Edit: I just looked up the one they have in San Francisco is 48 years old. The life expectancy in the wild is only 15 years.



King Richard

Species: Great horned owl

Age: 48

Medical problems: Cataracts

Life expectancy in the wild: 15 years

[Scout2Diesel]

Nice work! I like happy endings.

[battleship]

Only last week this poor old guy/girl was found at the foot of my garage door. It seemed blind in one eye and exhausted. Sadly shortly after the pics were taken it flew down the road about a hundred yards, landed and was hit by a neighbor down the street who slowed down after hitting it then drove off. I ran over to the bird and saw it was still alive, i grabbed a blanket picked it up and took it down to the local wild life shelter in Pleasant hill. It was still alive when i got there but later died. It looked old but then again all owls seem to look old, glad your story had a better ending.

[Scout2Diesel]

^ Aw...

[TenSeven]

Great story, Owls are really cool critters.

I used to see them from time to time outside my house at night, but... sigh... it's been a long time...

[mkkeele]

Nice job OP! I used to have an owl that lived in the red wood tree in my backyard. I remember always hearing it outside before going to bed. Very cool creatures.

[bubbapug1]

Are Great horned owls really protected? I have them from time to time in my backyard, along with other owls. They eat the rats in my yard and basically scream and carry one all night.

I do have a neighbor who shoots at them however, and I have found blood in my backyard on occasion from them taking a hit. I can hear the BB's hissing across the backyard too, plus the the sound of the gun going off. He complains they keep him up at night....they are loud, but not THAT loud.

[Californio]

Years ago before Vista, CA became the Burbs, Green Oaks Ranch in Vista had Outdoor Youth Camps. No population at that time and the dark night hikes found many Owls, Bobcats and others doing their nocturnal thing. The kids found owl balls on the trails and usually an owl taking off from a large oak tree swooping after a critter on the ground. We used to see owls out in Moorpark, CA before it built up as well. Fun to sit out on a cold dark winter night, with a little Jim Beam, and watch the owls hunt.

[KevinB]

Bubba, your neighbor gets caught and it is a federal charge punishable for up to 2 years in jail and a 10,000 dollar fine.

The general public is not even allowed to possess owl feathers.