Great Horned Owl Spotting

Just this morning a Great Horned Owl was spotted here at the Sanctuary! The Great Horned Owl is New Jersey’s most impressive owl. Standing 18-25 inches tall, with a wingspan of 48 to 60 inches, it is indeed a powerful and fearless bird of prey. Its distinguishing characteristics are long feather tufts, large bright yellow eyes, and a white “collar” around the throat. Its deep-pitched, booming notes, “Whoo-whoo-whoo”, repeated three to eight times, can be heard for miles on a still night. We had spotting scopes trained on this beautiful bird and were delighted to see so many people come out to see the owl!

If you are interested in learning more about the Great Horned Owl and other birds please join us at one of our spring programs. Learning the Birds by Song is a birding by ear workshop for birdwatchers of all levels. March 13^th and 20^th will cover the winter resident birds, April 3^rd and 10^th will cover the early migrant birds, and April 17^th and 24^th will cover the summer resident birds.  This workshop is run by, former board member and long-time NJ Audubon volunteer, Randy Little. Randy learned birding as a youngster under the wings of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s founders, and is a master at recording bird songs for the Cornell Lab. For the kids, we have an upcoming workshop on February 9 called Give a Hoot!

Photo taken by Joseph F. Pescatore:

 the spring 2013 featured photographer at the SHWS Wild Life Gallery

Photo taken by Dorothy Smullen

Photo taken by Dorothy Smullen