or however that dang word is written! : ) Use this forum to discuss those things that are related to, directly, or indirectly, fly fishing, i.e., tackle, catalogs, single malt scotch, cigar preferences, pipes, camera gear, etc. This is sort of an off topic area but one related to bamboo and fly fishing.
We moved from a fairly young sub-division several years ago to a very small neighborhood with very old growth trees - oaks, hickories and maples. Almost immediately, we started hearing Great Horned Owls at night.
Well, we have had a nesting pair in the neighborhood each year - last year their nest was blown out/disturbed and the move 80 yards into a neighbors tree. To say that they are cool is very understated. Mom or Dad is usually close by, Mom being quite a bit larger than Dad. No adult photos yet, but working on it. The twins:
Last edited by jhuskey on 04/20/19 21:56, edited 1 time in total.
We hear them at night once in awhile. I haven’t located a nest yet though. Sometimes at dusk I can just make out a shape in a tree. Amazing that you got those pics. Keep ’em coming. Love to see raptor pics. We have Cooper’s hawks and Red tailed around here a lot. We’re about 15 miles north of Chicago. Where in Illinois are you seeing the owls?
We have one that hangs around our large pines in the back yard. I hear him in the early morning hours now and then. Hopefully he is hunting those pesky flying squirrels that try and get in my attic every year.
We have had a big rabbit under our deck for at least 3 years - tried to trap it, shoot it, but last week one of our dogs found its backbone in the front yard.
Owlets are still fuzzy and on regurgitated food for now, fun to see them being fed. The adults are hunting a lot now, even during daylight hours.
trland wrote:We hear them at night once in awhile. I haven’t located a nest yet though. Sometimes at dusk I can just make out a shape in a tree. Amazing that you got those pics. Keep ’em coming. Love to see raptor pics. We have Cooper’s hawks and Red tailed around here a lot. We’re about 15 miles north of Chicago. Where in Illinois are you seeing the owls?
We lived near Harvard, IL for years, and always had hawks, falcons and owls using our bird feeders for bait. My wife took a lot of photos of a Cooper's Hawk sitting on our deck railing cleaning the feathers off a sparrow, then eating the whole thing.
We have Osprey and Eagles on the lake our cottage is on. I could sit all day and watch the Osprey fish. Pretty doggone efficient!
They're marvelous to watch.
Gofish
A few years ago my wife and I were headed east through Kansas. It seemed that every half mile the was a raptor on a fence post or power line. I was in awe.
I love bird of prey. Had a lot of hawks up north, some resident eagles and some big horned owls down from Canada at times. I always amazed me with owls how they could fly with barely a whisper of air movement and no sound. My S-I-L's boy actually has a business where he travels around and is hired by farmers to bring in his hawks and thin down various critters they're having problems with, like rabbits or ground hogs. He went from training a hawk for his own enjoyment to a paying business.
One time in our big backyard I was watching a baby rabbit running from some hedges to it's home under our shed. He didn't make it as a hawk swooped down and took him. Felt sorry for the bunny but nature has it's own codes.
Had a resident redtail at work that banged into a window and scared the heck out of a guy in the cubicle. Figured out it was his wildlife calendar next to the window he was trying to get at. Calendar down, no more hawk attacks.
I drove past a Great Horned eating roadkill one night when I lived in Oregon. Didn't even scare him when I drove past, he just swiveled his head and watched me. I turned my truck around and drove up slowly to get a better look. When I got closer, he spooked and it took him a bit to get airborne because he was so big. Then he flew just a few feet over my truck as I sat in the roadway. I had an 83 Nissan truck, but his wing span was far wider than my truck was as he passed overhead. I'll never forget that!
I work in town, about 100 feet from the Boise River. We have nesting Bald Eagles every year and I do see owls, falcons and hawks around fairly often, too.
We have a barred owl that hangs around at times. I’ve heard it at all times of the day. There’s a pair of nesting red-shouldered hawks in the neighborhood this year for the first time. Sometimes they hang out in the small swamp behind my house. One of the calls sounds a lot like an osprey, which we have flying about occasionally.
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“On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes... In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery."
We have an osprey nest about 75 yards from our place in Florida. Lots of ospreys around the area, but also lots of bald eagles. I've never seen an osprey chick in that nest survive to adulthood. When they're nice and fat with the downy feathers just yielding to adult feathers, a bald eagle swoops in to snatch them. Not such a good idea for ospreys to nest within sight of eagle nests, but they keep trying.
Absolutely John. Last time I fished the Madison I was able to get really close to a bald eagle nearly every morning. Seeing an osprey dive for a fish was a treat. Spotting a horned owl one evening was up there as well. If you like bird spotting I can absolutely recommend staying at El Western outside of Ennis. In Australia we have the wedged tail eagle which is huge and soars on the air currents, generally in pairs.
Cracking photo glassngrass.
We were out sitting by the fire in our backyard the other night and had a great horned fly over us right through the light of a full moon. Pretty special to see. We hear them many nights. Haven't located the nest, but they are nearby.
Jaimec wrote:I drove past a Great Horned eating roadkill one night when I lived in Oregon. Didn't even scare him when I drove past, he just swiveled his head and watched me. I turned my truck around and drove up slowly to get a better look. When I got closer, he spooked and it took him a bit to get airborne because he was so big. Then he flew just a few feet over my truck as I sat in the roadway. I had an 83 Nissan truck, but his wing span was far wider than my truck was as he passed overhead. I'll never forget that!
Just prior to my move to OK I was running down from MN with a 12' loaded a couple of times. One trip at night there was suddenly a huge wingspread in front of my windshield. It missed my truck but I heard and felt the thump against the trailer. Not much I could do but next morning on inspection it left a small dent in front of the rounded front of the trailer. Feel bad when something like that happens but like I said, not much I could do. Was running up a small river in Canada when a big Baldie swept down over the boat and nailed a fish not 20' in front of the boat. Cool.
I love to photograph raptors. We have Great Horned Owls in the canyon behind our house most nights, but hard to spot in the eucalyptus trees. Photographed this one a few years ago before the sun set.
Photographed this guy while walking the dog in the canyon.
