MCR Monthly Newsletter
What’s Hatchn’ing at Merrill Creek Reservoir with Ranger Rich
About the Author: Richard Dansen Sr.
Rich has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a concentration in zoology and wildlife management. Rich has been with Merrill Creek Reservoir since 1995 where he teaches environmental education.
You can find Rich each weekend at the MCR visitors center talking about the wonderful wildlife and habitats of MCR. Stop by to say hi!
“In writing this monthly newsletter, I hope to inform and educate readers about some of the wonderful and fascinating events going on in nature at Merrill Creek Reservoir each month. Enjoy!”
– Ranger Rich
February
The middle of winter is not usually thought of as the perfect time for birds to nest. Contrary to what we might think, the end of January and beginning of February is when the GREAT-HORNED OWL female can be found sitting on a clutch of 2 or 3 large dull white eggs that may be laid and cradled on a bed of her own soft feathers and incubated preferably in a hollow tree or possibly an open tree or cliff nest.
In ice or snow the female will not leave the eggs or the cold could quickly kill the young developing chicks. During this time the male will bring food to the incubating female and feed the hatchlings. This winter nesting results in the young owlets coming of hunting age just as thousands of small mammals (mice, rabbits, skunks), and other young birds are beginning to emerge. And YES skunks! Great-horned Owls are one of the few animals that prey on skunks! Bird researchers that study Great horned owls often remark they stink like skunks!
The Great-horned Owl may weigh as much as 4-pounds with a 5-foot wingspan! Great-horned Owls do not have “horns” on their head. they have tufts of feathers on their heads that look like horns from a distance. These tufts are called ‘plumicorns’, which is Latin for “feather horns.
Its eyes are almost the size of a humans and many times more sensitive for detecting prey moving in the dark. It also has some of the softest feathers known to birds allowing it to fly and glide through the darkness in complete silence. These traits, along with Its super hearing which is the most acute of any animal makes the Great-horned Owl the ultimate night stalker.
Merrill Creek is home to 3 kinds of resident (year-round) owls: Great-horned, Barred, and Eastern Screech Owls. Over the years, MCR has had migrant owls stop here or overwinter here, specifically Nothern Saw-whet Owl, Long-eared Owl, Short-eared Owl and once in 2011, a Snowy Owl!
Ranger Rich
