Outdoor Ontario

Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: Yuko5613 on April 11, 2016, 01:09:01 PM

Title: Great Horned Owl in High Park
Post by: Yuko5613 on April 11, 2016, 01:09:01 PM

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this website and hope that I am posting this on the right page.

I was wondering if anybody knows if the Great Horned Owl's owlet is ok in High Park.
We were there on this past Sunday and couldn't locate the nest anymore.

We were there on March 19 and had a clear view of the nest and a female was sitting on an egg (or eggs).
We ran into other birder yesterday and he had a picture of parents and an owlet sitting on a tree from two weeks ago.

We couldn't find a nest of owlets yesterday but we saw one adult sitting on a branch close to where the nest was.

Anybody knows what happened?

Hope owlets are ok!

Title: Re: Great Horned Owl in High Park
Post by: Paul O'Toole on April 11, 2016, 02:35:28 PM

I don't know the area but young great horned owls move onto nearby branches when they are six weeks old. At seven weeks they are capable of three or four short flights of diminishing distance. They may still be in the area.

Title: Re: Great Horned Owl in High Park
Post by: Brian Bailey on April 14, 2016, 12:37:24 PM

I haven't been there in a long time, but the most recent eBird report noting a juvenile is from last week (April 6) http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S28786710

BB

Title: Re: Great Horned Owl in High Park
Post by: Yuko5613 on April 15, 2016, 01:29:09 PM

That's good news.
I was there yesterday. I only saw two adults sitting on a different tree but no owlet.

Title: Re: Great Horned Owl in High Park
Post by: Matt Checker on May 10, 2016, 04:00:35 PM

Hello all, I am a birder from the UK and am visiting Toronto soon. I would love to see my first Great Horned Owl and am based near High Park. Could someone please give me the exact location? Thanks in advance! Happy birding! Matt

Title: Re: Great Horned Owl in High Park
Post by: Pat Hodgson on May 13, 2016, 07:38:18 PM

Most people these days do not post owl locations, as there is a tendency for some negative consequences to occur.  I don't think there is any particular policy at this board, but I am not going to post a location.  These owls are in a busy area of a busy park, but high up in large trees, so perhaps it is OK, I'm not sure.

My suggestion is that as a visitor you make a request to have someone show you the owl, which I bet would get a positive response.  If that is impossible, perhaps it can be disclosed in a private message, as opposed to a public posting.  I know where they were on a particular day, but I don't know how much they move around.  You can see from the photo that they are in a large white pine.  You could go check these, and realize that they may be much more behind the foliage than these photos show.