A new owl
-
- September
- 30
Sometime during the darkness of the early morning hours today, say about 3 a.m., I added a new owl to my list of local owls at home. The hooting hooting of a great-horned owl somewhere out in the woods surrounding my house woke me up at that hour. 
Great-horned owls are one of the most common and widespread owls. That makes it somewhat strange, then, that it’s taken 10 years for me to hear one at home. It’s the third species of owl I’ve heard. Both barred owls and Eastern screech owls are almost routine callers in the night at home.
Occasionally, the, well, screech screech of a screech owl tumbles through an open window, especially, it seems, on summer nights. As for barred owls, we hear their “who-cooks-for-you” song song quite routinely. I’ve even heard two separate owls calling back and forth to each other.
A “tasty” fact about great-horned owls is that they are the only animal that routinely eats skunks. Yum.
The photo above shows a great-horned owl, the one below is a barred owl. Both were taken by TJN photographer Ricky Flores. 
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pm by Mike Risinit.
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Journal News staff writer Greg Clary writes Earth Watch, reporting on environmental issues in the lower Hudson region. Clary has been a reporter, editor and columnist at the Journal News since 1988 and has covered police and courts, transportation, municipal government, development and the environment in the Lower Hudson Valley, among other topics. 
Laura Incalcaterra covers the environment, open space and zoning and planning issues for The Journal News. A Boston College graduate, Laura grew up in Rockland, attended East Ramapo schools and has worked for The Journal News since 1993. Laura has written features and covered North Rockland, crime, government and a host of other issues.
Mike Risinit covers Patterson and Kent in Putnam County, as well as environmental topics touching on the Hudson River and the Great Swamp. Risinit has been a reporter at The Journal News since 1998.
