Owls - discourage and encourage?

We have a standing agreement with an owl family.  They don't eat our chickens and we make sure to keep the food spill out in the open so they can hunt rats easier.  They love rats and the occasional rabbit.  They don't start hunting until about an hour after sunset and once their meal is finished around midnight, they give us some beautiful music.  

This year we have a Blow-in owl that is considerably larger.  It hunts from about an hour before sunset until about midnight.  It's favourite food is chicken, rabbits, and apparently human flesh.  It's attacked us several times.  I suspect other birds are also delicious to it.  When it's around, the great horned stay away.  It is MASSIVE! and if I hadn't had so many close up encounters with it, I would think it wasn't an owl as they don't get that big here.  

What can we change in the environment to discourage the second owl and encourage more of the great horned?  

Can’t answer your question, but I do operate on similar philosophies.  I try to get along with the various woodland creatures in my area. It doesn’t always work out, but usually we find middle ground.

Put the chickens up two hours before sunset. Sit on the porch watching the sunset with the most obnoxious noisemaker you have at the ready. Harass the big owl when he shows up.

Can you get a picture of the big one? Any chance it's a Barred Owl? Many Barred Owls lost their fear of humans due to rescue organizations and it can be a problem.

Would you be willing to use a super-soaker on it? It shouldn't kill it, but I imagine it wouldn't like it either. I don't thing a regular hose with just a spray nozzle would do the job - too much water but not enough distance or force.

Yes, Great Horned Owls are awesome!

Not a barred. those guys are great.

The blowin is way too big.  Wingspan is about five feet (I've gotten several close looks when it tries to eat me or my chooks) and no or small 'ears', so that makes the only possibility Great Grey which is an occasional visitor here.  He came in on one of the spring wind storms, and hopefully he will migrate away this month... unless he likes chickens too much.

The big problem with him is he doesn't sit and hunt.  He likes to fly and hunt and when resting, takes a higher perch than the great horned.  I only get close enough when he's attacking me, which is only about once or twice a month so far.

I suspect I look or sound like a rabbit or...? Because the great horned tried to eat me that first year before we reached our agreement.   So I have a good comparison.   When they are out at the same time, the great horned retreat to the woods.

OK, I found this article with pictures of a Great Grey landing on a photographer's camera - she looked pretty intimidated!
https://petapixel.com/2022/05/11/huge-grey-owl-lands-on-wildlife-photographers-camera/

I have a friend who's a bird photographer who has the sort of camera that can seriously get pictures. If there's a time and place the owl frequents, I'm sure he would love to see it and identify it.

Here's a picture he took several years ago of a Great Horned owlet.

I'm definitely pro-owl. They are keystone species that consume a variety of small invertebrates which can help keep mouse/vole/mole/other small mammal populations in check.

Also... how cool is it to hear them call out in the early morning?

I think a big 'limiting' factor is the size of nesting space available. I'm not sure if it is species specific but snags or dead standing timber seems to be important for the owls near me.

Had several close encounters with barred owls the last 6 weeks.  It's nice to finally have a correct size owl.  He's considerably smaller than last year's odd owl.  Maybe 2/3rds the size.  Had one land next to the emden goose and they nearly matched in height.  Goose won height contest, barely.  I doubt he would have won a battle.  The goose is a bit under a year old, so I don't think it has finished growing yet.

The wind that comes with an aborted barred attack on the back of my head is comparable with an bald eagle.  Apparently I look tasty from the back and need to either cut my hair or wear it up for farming.

But the owls are doing their best with the rats.  And his mate and him have been singing courtship songs to me all night.  Thanks guys.  

Owl population is back where it belongs. No signs of my Snuffleupagus owl from last year.  Barreds are much more negotiable.  Now to look up what they want in housing so we can do our best to help this pair settle in.  Although I hope it's not the hole in the old apple tree right outside my bedroom.  Those guys are loud!

Also, I haven't seen or heard great horns since winter. There are usually quite a few in the woodlot edges.  I wonder where they got to.

Just for fun, here is the song they sang to me last night.  https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/barred-owl

Pair hootin-it-up is the song.  

Although they did stop for an hour at 3am, probably for a snack. Sigh.  I miss sleep.

Liz suggested that if you are wearing your hair in a braid, they may think it is a snake.

thomas rubino wrote:Liz suggested that if you are wearing your hair in a braid, they may think it is a snake.

Owl attacks on long haired humans are pretty common here.  Common enough that some parks have warning signs to put the hair up dawn and dusk.

I don't know any local owls that hunt snakes.  But fluffy animals are a tasty treat.   The local natural history theorize it looks like rat or rabbit.

I've never had a chance to ask an owl.  I'm usually too busy ducking.

I'm in the 'it depends' camp. What other critters, if any, do you have, want, or want to control? If you have critters like goats, sheep or bigger, no worries. If you have an abundance of snakes, rodents, or other critters doing damage - absolutely, I'd be pro-owl. But, if you keep rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs, small dogs... essentially anything - including baby critters, smaller than adult goats or sheep, my advice is to be wary.

We have/have had chickens, ducks, turkeys, and muscovy ducks, small breed lambs & goats, and small dogs - and have had them at all stages of life. While our small breed goats & sheep are too big, as adults, to fall prey to owls, their babies are *tiny*, weighing in as small as 2lbs - well within a medium and possibly even a small owl's prey-range. We've had many chicks and ducklings go missing, and, at one point, an owl got into the duck run, and had killed 3 of them, in one night.

At the same time, we also have an abundance of field & wood mice, chipmunks, squirrels, and several types of snakes, including copperhead, that we would be *HAPPY* to feed to an owl or ten. Our solution is to protect our smallest livestock (the poultry) to the best of our ability, with fortress-like shelters, let the baby 4-leggers do what comes naturally, and stick to their mamas, and let the owls, bald eagles, & hawks (that all nest on our property) take care of the wild small critters. In other words, we protect the ones we need to, to the best of our ability, and let the wildlife sort themselves.