Great Horned Owl and Chick Courtesy US FWS George Gentry, PhotographerNo, I did not hear the owl call my name- meaning my number is up and death is imminent according to some native tribes. But I do hear them call. The great horned owl is also referred to as the “hoot owl”. There are few owl species that hoot in our area, and those who do so are extremely rare.
Great horned owls are great in stature- second only to great grays among N. American owls. Further, they are fierce predators and valiant protectors of their young. Don’t mess with their nest!
Great Horned Owl Chick Courtesy US FWS Gary Stolz, PhotographerDue to its ferocious nature it is often referred to as the “Tiger of the Air”. When established in a territory, the Great Horned Owls drive other owls away, and may eat a few for good measure. They are both nocturnal and diurnal hunters, especially during the breeding season & when they are raising their young. They have a large variety of prey including insects, most small mammals including skunks, foxes, domestic cats, & birds up to size of herons and Redtail hawks. Its prey can often weigh up to 3 times the weight of bird itself.
Great Horned owls are often monogamous. They usually nest in old nests made by other raptors, often by Red-Tailed Hawks. They have been known to nest in caves, on cliff ledges, rocky outcrops and in cactuses. They usually start breeding very early in comparison to most owls, often from December to March when hooting reaches its peak.
Several American Indian tribes believe owls are associated with the souls of the dead. When a virtuous person died, they would become a Great Horned Owl. If wicked, they would become a Barn Owl. The Hopis Indians believed that the Great Horned Owl helped their peaches grow. They were believed to be a symbol of divine wisdom by Creek Indians.
I’m sure glad to have these divine, wise birds in my neighborhood! Great Horned Owl Courtesy US FWS, Karen Laubenstein, PhotographerJack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society, and I’m wild about Utah!
White Crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys Courtesy US FWS Gary Kramer, PhotographerTHUNK! We have all been startled by the loud thunk of a bird hitting a window. In the United States window collisions kill an estimated 1 billion birds a year with 44% of bird window collisions occur at homes throughout the year. So, changes made around your home can help maintain our bird populations.
What happens to birds that crash into windows? About half of them die immediately from head injuries, broken necks and internal bleeding. The other half may recover. If you see a stunned bird, move it to a safe space away from cats or other predators, or place it in or under a box. Try not to handle the bird and don’t give the bird food or water. In 10-30 minutes the bird will likely be recovered enough to fly away.
Why do birds fly into windows? Birds don’t see glass as a solid object. Birds see the window as an opening that they can fly through or the see reflections of sky and trees in the window
The USU Bird Strike Project has been doing research on bird window collisions on the USU campus for the past several years. We have found that the vegetation planted outside the window has a greater influence on window strikes than window area. You can prevent window strikes by not planting fruit bearing trees and shrubs or setting up bird feeders 15-45 ‘in front of windows. Small birds can reach speeds of 30 mph within 15’. So, put those bird feeders right next to the window or more than 45’ away.Bird Window Strikes
If you have a window that experiences frequent collisions, treat the window to convince birds that they cannot fly through that space. Raptor stickers are popular but ineffective. Birds don’t see the stickers as predators. Small birds do not want to fly through spaces that are smaller than 2” high and 4” across. The width is the most important measurement. You need to convince the birds that the open spaces are no larger than 4” across.
There are a variety of effective ways to prevent bird window collisions; some of these are available commercially and others are do-it-yourself. I applied Feather Friendly Design vinyl to my windows and it has been very successful. The home installation materials come as strips of vinyl with small squares about ¼” in size every 4”. The strips are applied to the window with a credit card, then you peel away the strip, leaving the small squares. A DIY version is to dip your pinkie finger in paint and apply it every four inches on your window. Bird Tape is available in strips that can be applied every four inches to your window. Another option is to hang paracord at 4” intervals in front of the window. Window screens will prevent birds from hitting windows and shades can limit the amount of reflection that birds see. The American Bird Conservancy website has even more options for homeowners.
Bird populations are under a number of threats from urbanization, climate change and introduced predators. Some threats, like climate change, are difficult to tackle. But preventing bird collisions is a relatively easy step we can all take to preserve our bird populations.
I’m Kim Sullivan of the USU College of Science and I’m Wild about Utah.
Rachel Sagers, Brinnlie Harward, Landon Keller and Haley Schmid with Dr. Kim Sullivan, Patterns of Bird Window Strikes on USU Campus and Physical Features that Increase Risk for Collision, Department of Biology, (Honors Program,) Utah State University, https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1829&context=researchweek
Female Rufous Hummingbird(Selasphorus rufus) on Red Flowering Current(Ribes sanguineum) Courtesy US FWS, Peter Pearsall, PhotographerWhen we are hungry, we head for the kitchen. When birds are hungry they head for plants. Native plants, in particular provide important sources of food for birds and other wildlife.
Native plants play an important role in an ecosystem, providing the best habitat for wildlife. They are species of plants that have grown naturally in an area and thrive in an environment that matches the soils, moisture, and weather of a particular locality.
Arrowleaf Balsamroot Hyde Park, UT Courtesy & Copyright Linda L’AiThere are mutually beneficial connections for plants and birds that have evolved together. Native plants are a veritable market place for birds offering them nuts, seeds, fruits, nectar, and tasty bugs. They have an important influence on a bird’s diet, feeding habits, and even migration patterns. And as birds feed on the local fare they spread pollen and seeds.
This data gathered by Audubon’s Plants for Birds Program supports the planting of native species whenever possible.
96% of land birds feed insects to their chicks.
Native oak trees host over 530 species of caterpillars while non-native ginkgo trees host just 4.
To raise one nest of chickadee babies, parents must gather between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars.
Suburban yards planted with native species host 8 times more native birds.
Birds shape their migration patterns around native plants. Plants that produce fleshy fruit duirng the late summer and fall provide birds with the energy needed for long migrations.
Urbanization has resulted in a threat to native plants. According to Audubon, the continental United States has lost over 150 million acres of native habitat due to urban sprawl. Fragmentation of native plant habitat is believed to be due to the construction of cities, roads and river flow reservoirs. All of these, combined with a changing climate’s impact on timing of insect hatching and flowers opening, present many challenges to our birds.
Northern Flicker Courtesy & Copyright Linda L’AiYou can help improve the connection between native plants and birds by adding native plants to your landscape. The native plants database developed by Audubon provides users with customized lists of native plants specific to your area, as well as the steps needed to evaluate which plants will find success in your soil. You can find the website at Audubon.org/plantsforbirds. It’s as easy as putting in the area code, then clicking search. There are over 40 native plants listed for the Cache Valley area.
Dark-eyed Junco Courtesy & Copyright Linda L’AiFinches, sparrows, and chickadees are common birds to our area and are attracted to the seeds of the common sunflower.
The Wild plum, provides fleshy fruit for sparrows and chickadees and insects for woodpeckers.
Milkweeds attract hummingbirds and insect pollinators and serve as larval hosts for Monarch Butterflies.
Growing native plants is something we all can do in our yards or in the community to help bird populations increase now and in the future. Consider this: native plants that are adapted to the local region require less water, fertilizers and no pesticides.
Check out Audubon.org/plantsforbirds to find out more.
If you really dig birds, try digging native plants into your garden!
I’m Linda L’Ai with the Bridgerland Audubon Society, and I’m Wild About Utah!
Tallamy, Doug, Sustainable Landscaping, Research, University of Delaware, May 2, 2013, 2.26 min, https://youtu.be/NTbPNwNIoLs
Tallamy, Doug, Eierman, Kim, EcoBeneficial Interview: Dr. Doug Tallamy In His Garden on the Importance of Native Plants, EcoBeneficial!, Nov 22, 2013, 29:30 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w39g_f7BMUk
Male Mallard, Wings Set Courtesy Pixabay, Ilona Ilyés(ilyessuti), PhotographerIf it flies like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, but there’s hundreds in a maelstrom whirlpool whose torrent of wingbeats make your ears mute and skull hum, it must be a Great Salt Lake tornado a la duck.
This past waterfowl season, I saw them out in some of the flats not yet trammeled by cover brush in the wetlands which drain the Bear River to the Great Salt Lake. The experience was possible because my friend, a well-seasoned duck hunter, had “a spot” he wanted to check out. We headed out at 4:30 in the morning from town, drove to the icy ramp, and put in his boat. We navigated the winding canals lined with irreconcilable phragmites in the black until we reached an end. When he cut the engine, nothing but the sound of water trickling from unnamed subfoliage passageways could be heard. We unloaded our equipment, moored the vessel, and took off on foot for “the spot”.
We hauled floating coffins with our gear: decoys, grass blankets, some food, and our hunting tools. The air was cold, but hauling sleds through muck and knee deep water is warm work. We could see the delicate prints of yesterday’s game puttering in the mud, foraging for fuel. Our heavy feet cratered their Pollack art, mud streaking behind and steam rising as we trudged on.
When we found the spot to set up near a small patch of open water just deep enough, we set out the decoys, took our positions, hid, and waited until the clock struck the shooting hour. With the sun yawning from behind the morning’s dense clouds, the tornados began.
They started to the west on a rest pond and slowly rose about a half mile out, an acrid steam swirling along magnetic edges of lazy morning thermals. Slowly, the steam became more dense, a heavier molecularity, and yet somehow like the paint stretching off a worn artist’s haggard brush, harnessed a fluid winged chaos into streaks of prehistoric migratory cosmos.
Once a feathered mass rises and begins its molasses churn about its night’s pond, it is as if an intuition shoots through the birds, and they become an it, and suddenly strike off unified in a particular direction on the morning flight. One such wave comes our way.
You don’t hear the mass at first, but when you do it begins with quacks. Their distant airy rasps build as they approach and eye our decoys and open water. It gains slowly, like Holst’s Mars, or Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, a romantic era symphony of avian legions unified by the course of cacophonous time. It’s epic and deeply beautiful.
Soon, they decide to give our hole a scout and the whirlwind aims itself at us. The squadrons of drakes and hens give passing dives. This is where the real magic lies; nothing makes your hair stand on end like the sound of cupped duck wings catching air, braking in the atmosphere with such force, and then throwing on the afterburners to pull back up towards their comrades. It makes F-35s look like the Wright brothers’ Kitty Hawk flier. That howl as air is held compressed beneath stressed wings comes in from all angles. We are transfixed within the eye.
Northern Shovelers Flying Courtesy US FWS, Steve Hillebrand, PhotographerAnd as quickly as the tornado cometh, it also flyeth away. The music dissipates as the breath of ancient gods gains altitude, eyes another pond, and moves on from us. The duck tornado roars on.
So even if you’re not a hunter, or even that keen on ducks, there is nothing quite like a duck tornado; a force in this world which once was commonplace with the other primal elements of nature, but now only rarely seen in those last lightly touched places. Know that they’re out there, and if you can, one day go looking for them. Gaze at the power, the glory, and the mystery of the Great Salt Lake wetland duck tornados. You’ll never forget it.
