The Flickr Wingedtiger Image Generatr

Details best viewed in Original Size.

I photographed this Great Horned Owl (with a branch across his “horns”) standing on a branch a couple of hundred feet (60m) from the side of the Black Point Wildlife Drive section of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge located immediately north of the NASA Space complex on Florida's Atlantic Coast. I estimated that this was a male because it was about 300 feet (100m) away from a female sitting on her nest with two chicks. The Great Horned Owl, also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air") or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its primary diet is rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles, although it freely hunts any animal it can overtake, including rodents and other small mammals, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. In ornithological study, the great horned owl is often compared to the Eurasian eagle-owl, a closely related species, which occupies the same ecological niche in Eurasia despite its notably larger size. The great horned owl is also compared to the red-tailed hawk, with which it often shares similar habitat, prey, and nesting habits by day; thus the red-tailed hawk is something of a diurnal ecological equivalent. The great horned owl is one of the earliest nesting birds in North America, often laying eggs weeks or even months before other raptorial birds.
The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 140,000-acre (57,000 ha) U.S. National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on the Atlantic coast of Florida's largest barrier island and immediately to the north of the NASA Kennedy Space Center. One thing not realized by its visitors is that NASA can restrict access to the refuge based on its operational needs. The NWR contains over 1000 species of plants, 117 species of fish, 68 amphibians and reptiles, 330 birds, and 31 mammal species, of which 21 species are listed as endangered by the state of Florida or by the US federal government. Management of the NWR is provided through the Merritt Island NWR Complex, which provides hiking and driving trails for the public, subject to access restrictions from NASA. It is a 'gateway site' for the Great Florida Birding Trail.
Additional information on the Great Horned Owl may be found at Wikipedia.
Additional information on the Merritt Island NWR may be found at Wikipedia.

Details best viewed in Original Size.

I photographed this Great Horned Owl standing on a branch a couple of hundred feet (60m) from the side of the Black Point Wildlife Drive section of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge located immediately north of the NASA Space complex on Florida's Atlantic Coast. I estimated that this was a male because it was about 300 feet (100m) away from a female sitting on her nest with chicks. The Great Horned Owl, also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air") or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its primary diet is rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles, although it freely hunts any animal it can overtake, including rodents and other small mammals, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. In ornithological study, the great horned owl is often compared to the Eurasian eagle-owl, a closely related species, which occupies the same ecological niche in Eurasia despite its notably larger size. The great horned owl is also compared to the red-tailed hawk, with which it often shares similar habitat, prey, and nesting habits by day; thus, the red-tailed hawk is something of a diurnal ecological equivalent. The great horned owl is one of the earliest nesting birds in North America, often laying eggs weeks or even months before other raptorial birds.
The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 140,000-acre (57,000 ha) U.S. National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on the Atlantic coast of Florida's largest barrier island and immediately to the north of the NASA Kennedy Space Center. One thing not realized by its visitors is that NASA can restrict access to the refuge based on its operational needs. The NWR contains over 1000 species of plants, 117 species of fish, 68 amphibians and reptiles, 330 birds, and 31 mammal species, of which 21 species are listed as endangered by the state of Florida or by the US federal government. Management of the NWR is provided through the Merritt Island NWR Complex, which provides hiking and driving trails for the public, subject to access restrictions from NASA. It is a 'gateway site' for the Great Florida Birding Trail.
Additional information on the Great Horned Owl may be found at Wikipedia.
Additional information on the Merritt Island NWR may be found at Wikipedia.

Great Horned Owlets

male great horned owl preparing for his evening hunt.

Adult Owl in an Aspen Tree, Rocky Mountain Front Range, Denver, Colorado, October/Autumn Morning.

I heard several birds loudly calling and went outside to see what was happening. I looked up in this tree and saw a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. Above it were two Black-Billed Magpies, joined by four other Magpies perched on our gutter.

Meanwhile, two American Jays had also gathered in this same tree. And then two Western Scrub Jays joined in the cacophony, leaning in from an adjacent tree. They, too, loudly protested what I thought was the sole presence of this Hawk.

I went inside and quickly retrieved my camera. As I walked under this tree and looked up again, I saw The Source of all complaints - a Great Horned Owl, camouflaged within the aspen leaves! The Hawk was a few feet directly above the Owl, leaning down and making a distinctive, clucking sound of disapproval as well!

The Owl looked at me, then dipped, spread its wings, and flew from the aspen tree to a nearby pine tree. The Hawk flew very close to and above this Owl, appearing to peck at the Owl's tail.

This same mix of crowd-sourced birds - a.k.a. the Corvid Collective - launched and followed the Owl/Hawk pair. Their harsh protests persisted.

What a dynamic scene to witness! There were a lot of predators and prey in the same territory. Whew!

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The last GH owlet of 3. His/her sibliings have already fledged.

Dupage County, IL