Bird of the Month for November is  the Great Horned Owl. Below is Ben Kolstad’s article from the November  KITE.

Bird of the Month for November: Great Horned Owl.

The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) is a celebrated local resident. Instantly recognizable with its long ear tufts and penetrating gaze (although at least half the time you catch these nocturnal predators with their eyes closed), it’s familiar from anyone’s storybook image of an owl. Its deep hooting voice is almost stereotypically owlish (although I prefer the Barred Owl’s hoot myself). The range of this poweful bird of prey (unlike most other raptors, it regularly takes prey larger than itself) is widespread across North America and through many areas of South America.

The Cornell Lab describes its habitat requirements as follows: as long as there are trees in the area, it makes itself at home in “deciduous and evergreen forests, swamps, desert, tundra edges, and tropical rainforest, as well as cities, orchards, suburbs, and parks.” The photos submitted for this month’s article reflect this wide-ranging taste: birders sent pictures from Jupiter, West Palm Beach, Davie, and the ARM Loxahatchee NWR. Based on this small sample, they appear to prefer slash pine trees for nesting, although the bird from the refuge was in a big old cypress tree. And desert owls make do with cliffs when a suitable tree isn’t handy. These birds are tough enough that they simply take over nests from other species (Ospreys and Peregrine Falcons are on this birds’ diet, so no one really objects very strongly when they barge in.)

Come to our November meeting to hear more about this bird.

(Photographer’s please note that next month’s December  2015 Bird will be the Screech Owl)