Story and photographs By Joan Herrmann
Whereiwander… quietness has descended upon the meadow now that it is covered with a deep blanket of snow. The silence is briefly broken, in the early morning when I am sighted by blue jays and chickadees, alerting others that I am arriving with refills for the feeders. It is also wonderful to occasionally hear a barred or great horned owl calling in the late afternoon or early evening. I miss the buzz, chirp, whirr and all the insects’ cacophony that resonates throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Now the sounds of Canada geese or mallard ducks can be heard sporadically on our neighbor’s pond. If there is open water within the area many of these waterfowl will not migrate. Feeding the wild birds throughout the winter also helps to keep me from missing all the warm weather meadow companions.
If you are among the five million people that enjoy seeing and sharing food with winter birds then you probably also appreciate many the gadgets and paraphernalia that now are available. One of my bird feeding favorites is the heated birdbath which provides bathing and drinking water even in winter. Birds will eat snow when the water sources are frozen over, but the heated bath which is now twenty years old is a constant benefit. There are also many feeders that really are “squirrel-proof”. We have several large tube feeders that have a locking feature that pulls down to cover the feeding holes. We only use black-oiled sunflower seeds which are appreciated by all bird species. Two other foods that we provide are peanut-butter suet and unsalted shelled peanuts which are easily reached in a spiral peanut feeder.
The adaptation to our severe winter weather by the tiny winter birds has always fascinated me. Black-capped Chickadees find tree cavities where they spend the night. They are able to reduce their nighttime body temperatures as much as fifty degrees less than their daytime body temperatures a state called “regulated hypothermia”. Their feathers are also extremely important in retaining body heat which reduces their need for food. Their numerous types of feathers have different functions in keeping their body heat from escaping. Loose fluffy feathers, known as down, create air pockets between the skin and the outer feathers providing insulation. Like most birds, they have featherless feet and legs that are made of tough tendons that are not susceptible to freezing. When they roost at night they may tuck their heads into their feathers and sit on their feet to keep them warmer.
The chance of hearing or perhaps seeing an owl will motivate me out of the coziness of our home on a winter’s night. An owl can see as well as a human in daylight, but probably a hundred times better in dim light. Owls have large eyes that are positioned on the front of their face, whereas most birds have eyes on either side of their head. The advantage of their eye placement is an overlapping field of view and greater perception, similar to us using binoculars. Their eyes are immobile and to be able to see from side to side they must move their head. For the owl this is not a problem since they have an extra vertebra in their neck, permitting the owl to rotate its head about two hundred and seventy degrees, in both directions.
Owls fly without making a sound. Their soft, velvety feathers absorb high-frequency sound and the edges of the primary feathers are serrated to muffle sound as the wings pass through the air. Many owls even have feathered legs and feet, allowing for a soundless approach on prey. A great horned owl has enormous talons and is actually able to capture large prey such as muskrat, skunk, rabbit and even a gray fox. Their feet have a wide spread and a moveable outer toe which helps to keep wiggly prey from escaping. The tiny chickadee has three toes pointing forward and one toe pointing backward like all perching birds (passerines). A great-horned owl has four toes, two pointing forward and one toe pointing backward while the fourth toe is reversible. The talons are very large and curved with strong sharp nails. Its feet are scaly and have tiny pointed spines (spicules) on the bottom. The spicules assist in keeping prey from escaping and aids with grasping onto branches.
If the prey which an owl has captured is small it will be swallowed whole and if larger it will be torn into smaller pieces. Owls have a stomach which has two chambers instead of a crop like most birds. If an owl has captured small prey it swallows it whole. The prey goes into the first chamber of the stomach called the proventriculus, which produces acids, enzymes, and mucus, and starts the first stage of digestion. The acids in the proventriculus are weak and only digest the soft tissue of the prey. Digestion then continues in the second chamber called the ventriculus also known as the gizzard. The gizzard acts like a filter and keeps the hair, fur, feathers, bones and teeth, all the indigestible parts, and compresses them into a pellet. The pellet then travels back to the proventriculus where it will remain for as long as ten hours before being regurgitated. The owl will not eat again until the pellet is ejected. The shape of the pellet is the same shape as the gizzard.
Great horned owls begin their courtship in late December or early January and their hoot may be heard nightly for four to six weeks. After courting and mating the females will select a nest. She does not build a nest but will reuse an empty nest previously made by a hawk, crow, eagle or great blue heron. Temperatures are generally extremely cold this time of the year and the female will spend her time incubating her eggs, and the male will bring her food. If the prey is small she will swallow it whole, if large she will cache the leftovers. If it freezes she will sit on the cached food to thaw it.
Snowshoeing or cross-country skiing on a moonlit night may offer you the opportunity of hearing and possibly seeing a great horned or barred owl.
As a Professional Nature Photographer, Naturalist and Outdoor Educator, Joan Herrmann has been teaching and doing programs for Schools, Garden Clubs, Libraries, and Nature Centers, about 38 years. After moving from the Rochester area in 1995 she began her Photography business, Essence of Nature and also became a co-owner of The Artworks in Old Forge, New York. As a docent at Munson, Williams, Proctor Arts Institute, in Utica, New York she has been educating children and adults, for nineteen years.
In 2007 she began working with the Black River Outdoor Educational Program (BROEP) and in 2013 and 2014 did a week-long summer program at BROEP in conjunction with Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC). Using her love of both nature and photography she created a Flora/Fauna outdoor educational program teaching students (ages 6 to 14) the joys of nature and creative photography skills.
Joan’s love of nature has been a lifelong study of Birds, Wildflowers, Mosses, Ferns, Trees, Amphibians, Reptiles, Grasses, Insects, Spiders, Tracks, Scat, and Galls. She has assisted in the cataloging of all trails used by the hiking Coaches and photographed and identified seasonal Flora.
Since October 2016 she has been writing a bimonthly nature column with Adirondack Express Newspaper. In October of 2019, she began a bi-monthly column with My Little Falls Newspaper. You may reach her at Jmphoto8442@gmail.com