This video is from early January 2021 when the great horned owls were checking out our nest. This is the third year in a row that they’ve seemed to be on the brink of moving in and laying eggs and the third year in a row that we’ve been disappointed.
The male always works very hard to prove to his mate that he will be an excellent provider. We’ve watched him bring in rats, small birds, and mice for her. She accepts them but never seems particularly grateful or impressed.
The male seems very keen on our nest, the female not so much. Sometimes the male would arrive with a rat and hoot for the female for hours and she wouldn’t show up to take it and, as time went by, she became less and less responsive. Occasionally, he would wait all night. Sometimes he ate the rat himself (wise owl).
