Nesting Habits of Great Horned Owl 
167 
NESTING HABITS OF A GREAT HORNED OWL 
O. J. MURIE^ FAIRBANKS^ ALASKA 
For a iiimiber of years I had known that a pair of Great 
Horned Owls had a nest in a patch of heavy woods about four 
miles south of Moorhead, Minn., but I had never had the time 
to hunt it lip. 
In the spring- of 1920 I determined to find it. April 15 was 
the first opportunity I had to spend much time in that locality. 
On that day I began searching the woods, tacking back and 
forth, watching closely for any suspicions behavior of the owls. 
The woods are composed principally of elms, some of them of 
considerable size, boxelder, a stray cottonwood on the bank of 
the Red River, a good many basswoods, and here and there a 
grove of white oak. In the edge of the woods were frequent 
plum thickets. This type of woods extends in a comparatively 
narrow belt along the banks of the Red River, with the culti- 
vated prairie extended away in the distance on either side. 
Presently an owl flew away before me, from tree to tree, and 
after a little, hooted. I flushed it several times, endeavoring 
to learn from its actions in which direction it had the nest. I 
changed direction a number of times and once it performed in 
a manner clearly meant to entice me away. It lowered its head 
and glared at me from its distant perch. Then, extending its 
wings, it commenced to wobble and flutter on the limb as if it 
were about to fall. I moved toward it and it flew on, and as 
I continued in that direction the bird became quiet. I there- 
fore returned to the locality where the owl had performed, and 
presently found two owl feathers on the ground. I heard the 
owl hooting, and glancing up in a big elm, spied an owl’s tail 
projecting over the edge of a broken stub. The first owl now 
became greatly excited, came much nearer and repeated the pre- 
vious performance, apparently having great difficulty retain- 
ing its balance, with elaborate flapping and swaying to keep 
on its perch, in a very realistic manner. I left without disturb- 
ing the brooding bird, intending to return later to secure photo- 
graphs. 
On the 18th I returned to the nest, to find a flock of crows 
worrying one of the owls. While climbing a small tree near- 
by, with the camera, the brooding owl flew off and the crows 
promptly attacked it. Neither of the owls, however, paid much 
attention to the crows this time, but watched me intently, utter- 
