Local resident discovers who's making a ruckus

by Patrick Thomas

Terry Hilliard had no idea what it was, but something was causing quite a commotion in a tree in his front yard.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Hilliard, of the 10200 block of South Seeley Avenue, was walking his wife to the car when he heard an unusual amount of birds screeching in the trees above him and saw a boisterous squirrel scurrying up one and making a ruckus.

“The birds were making some racket in the tree, and I saw some jays darting back and forth from the same branches,” said Hilliard, who works as an attorney.

He looked up into the tree and then grabbed some binoculars. He quickly discovered the reason for all the commotion; he had a visitor.

An owl that Hilliard estimated to be about two feet in height was enjoying its perch in a large oak tree. It fixed its large eyes on Hilliard as he snapped several pictures.

“It was sitting in the dark and looked like it was trying to sleep,” Hilliard said. “The birds were harassing him, and the squirrel resented the intruder. He was chattering and waving his tail.”

After conducting research on the Internet, Hilliard concluded that the owl appeared to be a great horned owl.

Great horned owls have a wingspan of 40 to 60.5 inches. Adults have large ear tufts, a reddish, brown or gray face, and a white patch on the throat, according to Wikipedia. The iris is yellow, but it has no horns, just tufts of feathers. Their call is a lowpitched but loud “ho-ho-hoo hoo hoo.”

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds Web site, the great horned owl is one of the most widespread and common owls in North America. With a robust population, the great horned owl is by no means endangered, but it poses a threat to endangered species because of its predatory instincts.

The species hunts at night, swooping down from perches located next to open areas. It is the only animal that regularly eats skunks, and it will take large prey, even other raptorial birds and other owls, nestling ospreys and peregrine falcons, which naturalists have attempted to reintroduce but found difficult because great horned owls kill both adult and nestling peregrines.

According to Wikipedia, the owls can generate 500 pounds per square inch of crushing power with their talons, compared to an average adult human male, who can generate about 60 pounds per square inch with his hands.

Although it looks rather menacing, the great horned owl is a regular victim of harassment from flocks of birds, especially American crows, which congregate from long distances to mob owls and continue screeching at them for hours, according to the All About Birds Web site.

Besides other birds, the owl also dines on reptiles, chickens, rabbits, raccoons, rats, mice and squirrels, which explains why the Seeley squirrel was ready for a confrontation. But it seems that Hilliard will be rooting for the owl.

“My yard is overrun by squirrels,” he said. “If [the owl] took residency in my tree, it would be all right by me.”

This is part of the October 21, 2009 online edition of The Beverly Review.

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