My Hoot Owl is back!
It came back South again, and I heard the HOOt-HooT-Hoo again!
It's a lovely Great Horned Owl that I have the great pleasure of acting like an idiot at night when I hear it and hoot back at it 
.
I can only imagine that it has migrated to escape the cold another winter, because it is hooting it's little heart out.
= new reply since forum marked as read
using up the last of my 2014 Owls calendar now
but birds are highly intelligent, at least many of them are. Owls are WAY up on the brain to body mass scale, but they also have some intriguing memory characteristics which rival ravens. Ravens are extremely learned birds if they manage to live a couple of decades. Owls are the same way. They just learn in different ways.
Ravens and Parrots learn by sight and hearing, Owls learn by hearing exclusively, which is also directional. Which is why I hoot at my friend to say "Hey, welcome back, I missed you".
I think it knows where and who it is who-who-ing at 
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Last edited Mon Dec 22, 2014, 12:55 AM - Edit history (1)
Can't say I blame you, love owls! 
One year, we had a little quail here in the wintertime. I first encountered him when I stepped out on the porch and there he was, right next to the house. He must have been cold, would spend the night in one of those depressions that enclose the windows to the basement, so we put a lightbulb there for him and went out and got him special quail food, which I didn't know they made, but found it at the hardware store. He was around for quite awhile, kept turning up, guess he knew he was among friends.
and there was a pathetic little sparrow with puffed out feathers sitting in an orange juice cup that I picked up and put in my jacket - but you have to be very careful with trying to warm anything up. If they are too cold in their limbs and suddenly get warm in them while their thorax isn't warm enough, it can cause a drop.
Anyway, the little sparrow wasn't nearly as friendly as our little song bird wrens but she flew away when it got a bit warmer, and I think she probably was grateful
I think your owl must know he's found a kindred spirit... 
And we definitely need more wildlife specialists, especially with the way climate change is affecting our wildlife. My vet's former partner treated dogs and cats - and reptiles - but her specialty was birds. Her license plate read BIRDDR, LOL. When I brought my dog in, I'd often see her avian patients, enjoyed overhearing their conversations when we were waiting. That particular clinic is also the place in this area where they bring injured wildlife, happened to be there one afternoon when a wildlife officer came to pick up some baby squirrels who'd been nursed back to health... 
And it certainly sounds much more rewarding than the careers that most of us fall into...
you might want to get out of there. 
back in our woods... I have not gone looking for the nest, but we're sure it's there. We hear them many nights... they have an eerie call. Such beautiful creatures.
sP
The first summer we were in the house we rebuilt after the fire, we had one that routinely
roosted during the day in a tree down the hill on our lot.
See? Since then we've heard them, but I've never gotten any more shots of them.
It's really fun when one hoots and another answers!
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