Hoooooot- Listen to a great horned owl
Great horned owls are a predatory bird named for the unique feathered tufts on each side of the head. They look like ears, but they are not! Most great horned owls mate for life — that means they find their partner and stick with them forever. When they are looking for a mate, male owls hoot and call out to attract a female to his territory in behavior known as their “courtship display.” Listen to what they sound like in this recording from The Audubon. Owls will start their courtship in December and have a nest set up with their mate by January. But this time of the year in February, the owls will have laid eggs.
Why do owls lay eggs when it is still so cold outside? It’s to give their young a wing-up in the world. By the time the young owls are old enough to fly in the spring, most other animals are having babies. That makes it easier for young owls to find easy and small prey to eat.
