This morning at 4:30 a.m. the sound of several great horned
owls calling right outside the cabin woke up the dogs, who began to bark, which
woke me up. Sparrow also decided she needed to go out, now that she was
awake. So I stumbled out of bed, grabbed
my headlamp, and we went outside.
The owls, three of them, were all very close. The two females were the closest, the male a
bit further away. The one female was
very close and had to be in my front forest, just a tree or two from the edge.
With the headlamp I scanned every tree I could see but never caught her
eyeshine.
The nearby hooting spooked Sparrow, who started barking and
running around trying to find the something she was barking out. Sometimes a particularly loud hooting sent her
in the opposite direction, trying to get away from the sound she couldn’t find.
Needless to say that was the end of my sleep
last night. I rather hope tonight is
quieter.
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3 comments:
Did the dogs' antics scare way the owls? I used to have GHOs nesting regularly in the grove of planted conifers directly behind my house, but they forsook me several years ago and now I only hear them in the distance.
Scott: so far the dogs haven't scared the owls. I almost wish they would. I was awakened again last night by Baby Dog barking at the owls. She seems to think we are under attack when the owls hoot. And I am starting to feel sleep-deprived.
I've always had great horned owls since I've lived at the cabin, but where they are is variable--sometimes it's very close, sometimes quite distant, sometimes up by the new pond, sometimes over the top of the mountain. I expect yours will wander back again at some point.
I think I had coyotes the other night. No owls nearby.
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