Owls In February

A Chat with Marten Stoffel

Valentines Day is passed but February is often thought of as the month of love. But February is also cold and dark, and many of our native species are not yet thinking of romance or mating. There are a few exceptions to this rule, one of which being the Great Horned Owl. For our monthly education highlight I was able to speak with owl expert Marten Stoffel about this amazing creature who takes advantage of an early mating period in an unexpected way.

I first asked Marten if it was true that February is a lucky month for our Great Horned Owl friends in terms of finding a mate and beginning to think about babies. I was surprised to learn that some Great Horned Owls can begin the mating ritual as early as December and at the moment the first Great Horned Owl is already sitting on eggs, though Marten assured me that this was extremely early. He told me that in Saskatchewan, Great Horned Owls’ breeding season is quite regional and could be anywhere between February and April depending on where you were living. “What spoils the equation because we are in the city,” Marten said, “it’s warmer in the city, so nesting tends to commence extremely early.” Which means that our feathered friends in Saskatoon might be celebrating Valentines a little earlier than birds in the North.

In February you can expect to see Great Horned Owls pairing off and Marten tells me that the next stage of their adventure is finding a nest. “There is no owl that makes its own nest. Zero.” Marten said, “Owls use other birds’ nests from previous years. The Great Horned Owl’s most used nests are hawks’ nests, ravens’ nests, and then going down the list, old nests of magpies where the roof has been eliminated, and then possibly also crows’ nest.” Marten also added that Great Horned Owls find homes in a whole host of other locations including old barns, garages, and other human-made structures. 

Marten made sure to stress that if we see a nest and suspect that it now belongs to an owl to leave it alone. “Stay away and leave them alone.” Marten says this for a few different reasons. Safety is one of the largest reasons he warns people to stay away from these nests. “Although as they are incubating, they are not hazardous yet, but as soon as the young are there about 10% of the females are very protective of their youngsters and they will go to full attack. There is a risk. Don’t take that risk.”  With such a large mating season window there is no way for any armature to know if there will be young in a nest. Marten added that even the experts who are trained and legally allowed to work with these birds are fully prepared to encounter an unhappy mother owl and are always in full protective gear including helmet, face shield, heavy leather jacket and gloves. These magnificent creatures are no joke and are safest to be observed from afar.

The best way that the Great Horned Owl can be enjoyed by the public is to listen to their calls.  If you are lucky, you might even hear the calls back and forth as mates find one another. With your eyes you won’t know if you are seeing a male or female Great Horned Owl, but if you hear them calling back and forth, or dueting, your ears won’t let you be fooled. “If you hear them talking to each other, the higher pitched call is the female and the lower pitched call is the male.”

After the nest is found and the owls find one another, it’s time for the owls to lay their eggs. I asked Marten how the babies and eggs stay warm in our frigid temperatures, and it all comes down to the parents. “Momma sits on the eggs and will not leave. Period. She sits and he, the father, has to supply her with food. She can sit through -40 weather without any problems, as long as she sits. She can not leave her eggs. He has to do all the hunting for himself and her.” Marten also adds that if a mother Great Horned Owl is disturbed while her eggs are being incubated by a predator or a nosey neighbor and she moves off of the nest, with these temperatures that we have now there is a great possibility that the eggs will freeze, and the nest will be done. Unfortunately for the pair of owls they will not have another chance at having young this year and they will not attempt a new clutch of eggs. The same goes for if the male owl does not come back to the nest, if the female must leave to hunt for herself. the eggs will freeze and no longer be viable. Thankfully if we are responsible neighbors this hopefully won’t happen in our backyards. The eggs are laid, usually about a day and a half apart and then the waiting game begins. About 28 days pass before the first chick, or owlet, begins to hatch and subsequent babies will follow, with quite a spread in age between the youngest and oldest owlets.

When a pair of owls are successful, they are greeted with fuzzy white babies. Fascinatingly Marten told me “The whole incubation time is perfectly timed so that these guys are growing at the time that all other birds migrate through. So that’s why the Great Horned Owl is early. When the young are little and have to be fed all of the other birds are arriving from the sunny south. Then for the Great Horned Owl a whole smorgasbord of food is moving through.” This and the abundance of birds and young rodents is one of the reasons that winter is peek mating season for this crafty owl. But after the babies are born, Mum and Dad are not off the hook yet. She will stay with her young for quite some time to keep them warm and dry and protected.

I asked Marten how long the parents stay with their young and Marten told me, “It’s the other way around. You’re supposed to look at it the other way because the parents own the territory, and the youngsters are in it.” Marten went on to say that, by October, the babies are no longer considered babies and they are on their own. “By December the parents need to start competing for territory again, so by October, youngsters are told to get lost.” This is the time that they will begin to look for their own territory and by around age two they will begin to find partners of their own. 

So this February, March and April I encourage you to get out around dusk to see if you can hear the call of the lovesick owl, but remember to admire from afar.

– Erin Gaddam