Great Horned Owl...?
 

Monday night, on Brody's and Mia's last potty break outside...and I watch up in the branches because we have huge oak tree branches covering the yard...I heard leaves rustling. Expecting squirrels, I looked up and saw fluttering, then heard a big owl. The call sounded like a Great Horned Owl, and he was just over our heads in the tree branches. He spoke twice and flew away but when I saw the fluttering, I knew it wasn't squirrels and started grabbing Yorkies...heart pounding...running for the house.
"The Great Horned Owl is native throughout Florida and is the largest of Florida's Owls, with a body length up to 25 inches and a wing span to five feet.

Great Horned Owls prey on a wide variety of animals from fish and snakes to small mammals and birds, a powerful predator, they are capable of taking animals two or three times their own body weight.

The Great Horned Owl is the only large owl in Florida that has "ear tufts"."

:eek::eek::eek: Oh my! Now that is SCARY! Thank goodness all ended up being ok and the big owl flew away. :( Please be careful. I know of people in my area who have lost Yorkies to owls. :( Very very scary.

:shocked7q The Birds:pirate: are coming for our Yorkies - whatever species they are! There is this alarming number of reports here on YT now! It's getting creepy to read all of these reports in the last 6 weeks or so. :shocked7q

I know!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek: I am being OVERLY OVERLY protective of my girls!

And with our creepy/crawlies - what in the world is going on here??????????? They are coming from the air and the land - an invasion!!!! :biggrin8::eek::biggrin8::eek::biggrin8::eek:

It sure seems that way, doesn't it? An invasion! I know we have Great Horned Owls...we have woods...and we have photos I cautiously took of her 3 babies in the back yard years ago while Mommy, who was not very big at all, watched us. Our whole yard is covered by a gorgeous canopy of huge granddaddy oak trees...so much so, hardly anything grows due to the deep shade. I have been cautious of predatory birds in the trees when taking Brody and Mia outside. They were on leads, too. Regardless, when you see that first one, it's still really spooky. I probably overreacted...lol I wish I knew what was going on with all the wild critters...hawks, etc. We have hawks, eagles, ospreys and owls. Not a happy thought having a predatory bird possibly hunting your Yorkie babies. I didn't see the owl well in the dark through the tree branches...not well enough to identify it by sight, and had to make sure about what kind it was by researching the call I heard. But, I really do believe it was a Great Horned Owl...no idea what size...but due to the deep, throaty sound, possibly a good sized one. I have been even more watchful since...knowing there is at least one that close by.

Yes, in FL most likely GHO, if it was a large owl. No other big ones live there. Although, honestly, the gators are a bigger threat for sure.

You would really get the creepy/crawlies if you had one fly over your head, land on a tree branch a few yards away and stare at you!:eek: I have had it happen twice. Huge owls! One time it happened during the afternoon and the other time it was a couple of hours after the sun came up. That was creepy! I had the distinct impression it was sending me a "message" and it was not a nice one.:rolleyes: I have to admit I was shocked to see just how huge they are when they fly. I have looked at different owl pictures but have never seen one described to be as big as the ones I have seen. I don't think it was my imagination. They were huge!

Oh my! Message received and understood! :eek:

Florida actually has huge Barred Owls, too, but the call I heard was definitely not a Barred Owl.

I don't worry a lot about alligators because we are far enough from water, have no pool, and only have very small swampy areas within, say 3 miles of the house, so no good habitat for their survival or breeding.

This is gonna sound really weird, because in more than a year of being outside when it was super dark out there walking Yorkies and not seeing or hearing any owls, then seeing and hearing that one Monday night but no more until...just after I posted last night. I took the babies out just after I wrote that post...for their last potty break of the day...and no sooner had we left the porch and what did I hear again but the same owl call! :eek: I didn't see the owl, but we didn't go 5 feet from the porch either. I am really NOT liking this at all...I hope he finds a new home...and soon!

It may be this owl has just moved into your area. Like most wild animals that hunt these critters need their own hunting territory so when the young adults leave the nest they have to go out and find their own hunting ground. If he finds enough to eat there he will stay and if not he may move on. They mostly eat rodents and rabbits but I think they do notice small dogs as well....especially when they are hungry. I have heard owl attacks out in the woods at night and it can be awful. I wouldn't want to try to have to fight one off.

After I met a couple a few years ago whose yorkie was killed by an owl, I looked up many stories on the internet from people whose animals had close calls with hawks and owls. Many were 6lb. dogs, some were picked up carried and then dropped, some were on leashes with their owners. One was carried a couple miles and then dropped. These stories were the ones who survived. The couple I met let their yorkie out at night to potty and then called him back in and he didn't come. They went out with a flashlight and found him dead in the yard with a large puncture wound in his back. They probably scared away the killer. They think it was an owl because in hind sight, an owl had been spotted in the area for a couple days before, but they didn't realize the risk. Since then, I get nervous at night. A few times I've heard an owl hooting far off and it reminds me again. I found this website: Owl Calls & Sounds - All Species which has owl calls that you can listen to if you want to try to identify the type of owl you are hearing. The owls I heard sound like great horned owls. There are probably websites with hawk calls, too, if you want to listen. I think the owls scare me most because they strike at night in the dark and are completely silent. They also don't care if a human is next to small dog or even if its on a leash.

I know I used to have an Owl in my backyard that would sit in my Oak Tree. I haven't seen it, in at least a year.

I got this great picture of it, I can't believe the picture came out so good as it was pitch dark outside and I wasn't sure if I was pointing camera in the right area. Once I took the picture it flew off.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL89/.../396406158.jpg

When we vacation in Hilton Head, there are gators everywhere. Generally, every pond, lagoon, small body of water has one or could have one that you might not see. A friend told me she saw a gator take a golden retriever and later the owner came out of her house calling for the dog. You can't walk near the water's edge down there without being in danger. If they are hunting, you can't see them because they stay perfectly still underwater for several hours just waiting for a victim and they can run very fast.

I had a horribal experience with an owl. Check out my old post.

Good you don't have to worry about gators! Barred owls are pretty good sized, but smaller than GHOs and don't have the ear tufts. :)

Great job getting that pic! No easy task at night! :thumbup::thumbup: That's a GHO, even tho you can't see the ear tufts. Large with yellow eyes.

FYI, it's the beginning of courtship and breeding season for Great Horned's, so they're gonna be more active & vocal right now.

It is a wonderful shot of the owl. They blend into the trees so well that it amazing you even saw him.

That was quite an experience!:eek: So did you change what time you walk the dogs after that? I know after that one flew over my head and perched right in front of me in broad daylight it changed my thinking about early morning walks.:( That was when my Shih Tzu was still alive and I had to walk him before I went to work. It's an awful feeling to think you may be being stalked by one of those things.

What a fabulous photo...it's like he posed for you! :D

Correct...:D

I couldn't see the owl except briefly...mostly wing tip flutter...while he flying away...so I couldn't see whether there were ear tufts or not...which would have told me what kind of owl and how big...lol, but the call was a GHO I am pretty certain. I did a lot of listening to owl calls on various web sites before posting...to be fairly certain. While none of the recorded owl calls were exactly like the owl I heard...that owl had a lower pitched, very smooth, throaty "radio voice" :p call, but the call 'pattern' and 'inflection' were the same.

I am thinking the same...most likely looking for a mate since I believe mating season is just starting. Since we have plenty of wooded area, I think he may be 'hoping'...;)

We generally have plenty of smallish furry critters in the woods, too...and for sure, rabbits at least 'used' to live in the woods behind...not sure if there are many field mice anymore though after all the feral cats moved into the barn behind us. I think some of the feral cats I was not able to catch and have 'repaired' in the 'family' way might have been victims of owl attacks...I have heard horrible screaming at night in years past that was clearly unrelated to mating practices.

I do still have 4 cats, so owls have always been a concern for me...even before the Yorkies. Most of the cats are bigger than the Yorkies, so now, even more so it is a concern since I have even more to lose and/or protect.

Teresa, I will look for your old post tonight. I can use any hints I can get how to keep my babies safe on their night and early morning, dark outside, walks.

Correct...on all counts...:D...and mating season is the likely reason he spoke, I am thinking. If he was hunting my Yorkies, which I cannot even be certain he knew about prior to seeing them/us outside on Monday night, I'd expect him to want the element of surprise that comes with not announcing his presence. But, he likely didn't expect us to intrude on his evening like we did. :p I also think maybe...just maybe...that's why he flew away Monday night...we surprised him while he was hoping his "luck" would not include...you know, stuff like...us! :p

Regardless, I am being extremely cautious, and am very nervous about his presence because of my cats and dogs, and not knowing how big he is or what threat he could actually pose. Also, he may not be the only one...hopefully he's a male hopeful with no local females rather than a female who's likely to attract plenty of male hopefuls.

Normally, I do not mind having at least some critters around me. In this case, however, there is a danger, and I see no reason to tempt fate. :D

When I moved into my house back in June, I realized QUICKLY that we (well, our group of neighbors) have a family of Great Horned Owls. I would see them every night at dusk.

I didn't see them in July or August but have seen them again the last month and a half. In June, I would see 3 or 4 at a time. Now, I only see/hear 1 at a time. I think it really was a family in June and now it's 1 or 2 looking to nest or mate.

The old post was called ' twilight attack' . Just search threads started by Teresa Ford. And to answer Gracielove. Yes, I stopped walking my Yorkies close to dusk. I don't walk them really early morning either. I will never forget the heart stopping fear when that owl swooped down. I just shivered thinking about it !

Before we got the feral cat population sterilized I used to see those kittens disappear really quickly. It's heartbreaking. They either starve or are grabbed up by predators. They are so wild that you can't help them. They usually won't even come close enough to the house to eat. I wanted to try trapping them but we have so many critters around here I was afraid I would end up with a skunk or a raccoon instead.
We rarely hear the owls except at certain times of year. It may be they are more vocal when they are mating or calling for a mate.

Cat!!!! And all my YT friends....!!!!

I think the time has come for you all to realise that you need to move 'over here'!!! :)

We have no snakes, no huge great flying roaches, not really any lizards, no gators, nothing really very stingy or nasty, most of our animals are quite cute and cuddly.....you don't need to suffer any longer!!!! :D

Just pack all of yourselves and your Littlies up and come and live with me and be safe and scaredy-free.....!!! By the way, London Gatwick Airport's the closest to me....:D Sally + Harry x

Oooooo, my dear friend, Sally! You just don't know how good, and tempting, that sounds! :D I've made a note about the London Gatwick Airport, though! :p

Hugs to you and Harry!