126 



THE OOLOGIST 



FURTHER NOTES ON THE NEST- 

 ING OF THE GREAT GRAY OWL 



Since writing my experiences with 

 the Great Gray Owl in 1913, which 

 appeared in January 15, 1915, number 

 of THE OOLOGIST, I have seen little 

 printed concerning this 'bird. Since 

 that time I have found five nests of 

 the owl and perhaps an account of 

 them may be of interest. 



In 1914, I made a very diligent 

 search for a nest of the Great Gray 

 Owl, exploring every likely piece of 

 tim'ber for several miles around Bel- 

 vedere, but without success. I saw a 

 couple of birds but was unable to 

 find a nest and almost came to the 

 conclusion that their nesting here in 

 1913 had been accidental and might 

 not occur again. I think one reason 

 for my failure was the fact that a 

 useless homesteader had located in 

 my best hunting ground and amused 

 himself hy killing every owl and 

 hawk he could and tacking them to 

 the side of his shack. 



Next year I resumed the search, 

 the homesteader had departed and 

 prospects looked better as on a 

 tramp through the woods on March 

 15th I saw three Great Grays. The 

 first was sitting on a tree in a small 

 Muskey, and a mile or so farther on 

 I saw two more sitting in poplars, in 

 an open field. The Great Gray Owl 

 is not at all a wary bird and always 

 permits a close approach. All that 

 saves him from extermination in the 

 settled districts is the fact that he is 

 seldom seen away from the heavy 

 timber which is his home. 



In this case as I was looking 

 through imy glass at one of the birds 

 about four hundred yards p^way it 

 started to fly toward me. It came 

 sailing along about tw^o^eet fromi the 

 ground and finally lit on a fence post 

 in front of me wihich I found after- 

 wards to be just eleven paces dis- 



tant. It stayed there, staring at me 

 for about a minute and then flew to 

 a small dead snag, and from there to 

 the ground and then to a small stump 

 about two feet high. The other 

 perched in the top of a poplar about 

 fifty yards away and hoth remained 

 there as I walked on home. 



On the 19th while passing through 

 a heavy piece of poplar timiber I 

 found five old hawks' nests, none of 

 them appeared to be occupied but on 

 my return that way just before dark, 

 I happened to pass close to one of 

 them and saw a Great Gray Owl fly 

 towards it and light on a limb beside 

 it. I then saw that there was 

 another Owl sitting in the nest. They 

 were evidently about to start house- 

 keeping and made a deep boomiing 

 sound and the one on the limb a 

 kind of a Whistle. After about a 

 Iminute the one on the nest flew 

 away and its mate followed. I was 

 elated and certain I ,had at last found 

 another nest of the Great Gray Owl, 

 but as will be seen later I was mis- 

 taken as regards that particular nest. 

 The Owls had not yet decided which 

 nest they would use. They were 

 merely househunting. 



On April 9th, I found a Great Gray 

 Owl sitting on a nest about two miles 

 away from where I had seen the pair 

 on March 19th. The nest had been 

 occupied the previous year by a 

 broad-winged Hawk. It was in open 

 Poplar woods about thirty feet up in 

 the upright forks of a Balsam Poplar 

 and contained three eggs. There was 

 no nesting material added by the 

 Owls except a few feathers from the 

 breast of the sitting bird. 



Passing on to the nest I had seen 

 the Owls at on March 19th I found 

 it unoccupied but found a Great Gray 

 Owl sitting on another of the five old 

 hawk's nests I had discovered that 

 day about three hundred yards from 

 where I had seen the Owls first. I 



