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The Great Horned Owl

© B. J. Barton

Great Horned Owl

The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) is one of the most common owls in North America, but, how much do you know about the Great Horned Owl? Here is a little quiz you might enjoy. Answers are found in the article below.

1. The great horned owl got its name because it is the only owl that has real horns growing under its feathers. True or False?

2. The great horned owl depends entirely on its large yellow eyes to catch prey in the dark. True or False?

3. What do great horned owls say to each other? Do any other owls say that?

4. Do great horned owls smell bad because they don't like to take baths?

5. Great horned owls have never been known to attack humans. True or False?

6. Great horned owls migrate south for the winter. True or False?

7. Great horned owls are not skilled nest builders. True or False?

Owls are such fascinating birds that I just love to see them. One of the easiest to find is the great horned owl. It is a large owl - 18-25" in body length with a wing span of 3-4.5 feet and a body weight of roughly 3-5 pounds. Females are larger than males, perhaps because it is the female who incubates eggs and guards the nest.

No, great horned owls do not have real horns, but the tufts of feathers around their ears earned the name for them. This puts them in the category of "eared owls," along with long eared and short eared owls and screech owls. Along with their size and their ear tufts, great horned owls can be recognized by an obvious white throat patch. They are generally gray-brown in color and heavily barred with dark brown or black, but there are at least 10 races in different geographical areas with colors varying from light to dark, some a little larger and some a little smaller.

If a great horned owl flies over your head, you may notice a shadow gliding by, but you will not hear the sound of beating wings. The edges of their flight feathers are very soft, muffling the sound of their movement. This has two advantages: it keeps prey from hearing their approach, and it allows them to hear sounds better. While owls' eyes are big and probably see better than other birds do at night, they do not appear to see in total darkness. In fact, they probably use their acute hearing to find prey in the dark. They apparently can discriminate sounds so well that they can tell the subtle difference between a beetle or a mouse running through the grass. Rabbits and hares seem to be the meal of choice when available, but they eat quite a variety of things, such as squirrels, mice, prairie dogs, birds, cats, and even skunks. They swallow food whole or in large pieces, then later cough up pellets containing the undigestible parts such as fur, feathers, larger bones, beaks, teeth, etc. If you find an owl pellet, you can usually tell what it has been eating.