A great horned owl hunts mostly at night, and it has keen hearing and keen vision in low light. An owl turns its head to look around, because its eyes do not move in the sockets, and it can turn its head about 270 degrees, which is three-quarters of the way around a circle. The hoot of a great horned owl is low and deep, and you can hear great horned owls hooting at night in winter.
Special flight feathers let an owl fly down silently, and a great horned owl's feet are covered with feathers. A great horned owl watches from a high perch, then swoops down to catch its food. Great horned owls eat rabbits, rats and squirrels, and up to 90 percent of a great horned owl's diet is mice, voles, squirrels and other small mammals. A great horned owl swallows small prey whole, and it coughs up pellets of the bones and fur it cannot digest.
A great horned owl has feather tufts on its head that look like horns, and the feather tufts on a great horned owl's head are not ears. They are tufts of feathers. A great horned owl has large yellow eyes, and female great horned owls are larger than males. An adult great horned owl is between 18 and 25 inches long, and an average adult weighs about 3.1 pounds. A great horned owl's wingspan can reach about 1.5 meters (5 feet).
Mated great horned owls stay in their territory all year, and great horned owls do not regularly migrate. Great horned owls live across most of North America, and they live in many places, including the countryside and cities. Great horned owls start nesting early, in winter, and they do not build their own nests. They use nests built by other large birds, such as hawks and crows.
A great horned owl usually lays two or three eggs, and the eggs hatch in about a month. While the female sits on the eggs, the male brings her food, and both parents help feed the young owls. Young great horned owls leave the nest and climb out onto nearby branches at about 5 to 6 weeks old, and they can fly well at about 9 to 10 weeks old. A great horned owl usually first breeds at 2 years of age, and great horned owls in captivity may live more than 20 years.
Words to know
- sockets: eye holes
- perch: a high seat
- prey: hunted animals
- pellets: small lumps
- territory: claimed area
- captivity: life with people
