"There are four species of owls about a football field’s length of us right now," declared Dr. Charles Leck, the featured speaker of NJ OWL’s March meeting. The comment inspired a look of surprise from the audience, then shouts of "Let’s go and see them!" It was a tantalizing thought. Here we were in heavily paved central New Jersey, and unbeknownst to us, just outside the door of the Holly House were owls, beautiful and mysterious, prowling the night.

Dr. Leck is a retired professor of ornithology from the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Cook College – Rutgers University. In addition to his experience of teaching ornithology, he’s served on committees for a variety of graduate projects, and traveled the world to observe birds. He also authored the book, The Birds of New Jersey. Since his retirement he has immersed himself in a variety of educational endeavors related to nature including work with schools, nature centers and now NJ OWL.

Dr. Leck’s presentation described eight species of owls that can be found in New Jersey, including their life history, and the types of habitats they require to survive.

Owl species that reside in New Jersey year-round are the great horned owl, eastern screech owl, barn owl, and barred owl. The other four – long-eared owl, northern saw-whet owl, snowy owl and short-eared owl - visit seasonally and almost exclusively, during the winter months.

Although all of the species that Dr. Leck discussed were fascinating, the first that he mentioned, the great horned owl, was of special interest. First because it is NJ OWL’s totem species (it’s the species featured in the silhouette of NJ OWL’s logo). But also because it is the most common and largest owl in New Jersey. In addition, it has a wide distribution in the Western Hemisphere ranging from as far down as Tierra del Fuego in South America all the way up to Alaska. And yet, given how common it is, few New Jersey citizens are aware that they are in our midst. The information that Dr. Leck shared about great horned owls was indicative of the type of information concerning the other species. Here’s a overview of what he shared with members that evening…

The great horned is the state’s earliest breeding owl. It initiates courtship in December and settles down to incubate eggs sometime in January. Dr. Leck described the courtship behavior of great horned owls that he’s observed in the fields near Helyar Woods, not far from the Holly House. Males ruffle their feathers in front of the females and perform roller coaster-like flight displays. Generally, neither of these attempts do much to impress the female, says Dr. Leck. But there’s usually a turn of events then the male goes off foraging and returns with a small mammal (a rat or vole for example) that he’s killed in order to offer it to the female to eat. It appears that females of many species are impressed by the offer of food as a courtship tactic because according to Dr. Leck, "That’s what really gets her!"

Young great horned owls

Females are larger than males, and both sexes are pugnacious nest defenders. They’ll readily take on all comers and are capable of doing serious injury to anyone they feel is a threat to their nest. Usually they lay their eggs in an old hawk or crow’s nest, or sometimes in the broken off top of a tree. The young, says Dr. Leck, look like giant lint balls. They have fluffy down that slowly gives way to real feathers as they prepare to fledge, which takes about 5 weeks from the time they hatch.

Dr. Leck pointed out an interesting way to find a great horned owl. Listen for other birds, namely crows. Crows don’t like great horned owls (probably because the owls eat crow nestlings) and will "mob" them. Mobbing involves many crows, sometimes numbering in the 100’s, surrounding an owl and giving raucous calls and flying about the owl in a menacing way. The crows don’t really hurt the owl, but the activity tips off others, including inquisitive humans, to the presence of these fierce avian predators. Just walk towards the sound of the mobbing crows and search the trees for the owl on which the mobbing is directed, said Dr. Leck.

As fierce and tenacious as great horned owls are, they have their vulnerabilities. Dr. Leck explained that blood samples drawn from great horned owls reveal that the species has about a 90% infection rate for West Nile Virus. Only time will tell how this will affect their population.

Dr. Leck’s warm manner and sense of humor coupled with his expertise provided a better understanding of what the lives of these intriguing creatures are like. Thank you Dr. Leck, for sharing your expertise and teaching us about the mysterious and marvelous owls of New Jersey.

by Cathy Blumig