A mated pair of red-shouldered hawks, taking the sun and relaxing together. (Courtesy/Karl Schneck)
Adult birds are already pairing for the 2022 breeding season. If great horned owls are nearby, a couple may be heard at night calling back and forth, dueting. The male has lower pitch.
These owls may already have chosen the nest they will use. It was built by man or squirrel or another species of bird. Owls will not deign to carry sticks or construct. By nesting in the winter, the great horned insures easier hunting. Far simpler catching several rodents or housecats per day when many plants are still bare or dormant.
Great horned owls are usually the first local species to nest. But we have other birds here that may lay eggs before winter officially closes. Red-tailed hawks often nest before spring—easier hunting for rodents on the ground. They don’t migrate from the Willamette Valley so are already forming pairs—I saw two sitting side-by-side on New Year’s Day.
With owls and hawks the female is larger. She does most of the incubation of eggs, brooding and protecting of chicks born without feathers. Her added body mass and fat enable her to warm and insulate the nestlings. The male raptor is a slenderized hunting machine, just big enough, no extra body weight. He may have to feed his mate, four young and himself, daily. Gym work-outs not required.
Range map and dateline for barn owls in Oregon from breeding bird atlas.
Some other local birds begin nesting in March: Anna’s hummingbird, Canada geese, bald eagle, tree swallows (an early returning migrant), bushtits, ravens and great blue herons. There is a visible heronry along Interstate 5 in Marion County. It is in mature cottonwoods so the tall birds can be clearly seen on the large nests before the new leaves appear. Try March—it is southeast of exit 263, about 20 stick nests easily seen from northbound lanes.
Nesting season intensifies in April for many non-migrants: mallards, barn owls, crows, Steller’s jays, robins. Also early returning turkey vultures. By May even many migrants are busy nesting—barn swallows, orange-crowned warblers, Brewer’s blackbirds, scrub jays, acorn woodpeckers, flickers, starlings, house finches. Both plant and insect food should now be abundant. Among the last to nest are American goldfinches and siskins who await June and July when plenty of seeds have ripened.
Each location and each nesting pair is unique. Weather, food supply, some squirrel or other egg thief eating the first clutch, are among the variables. A pair may begin nesting and then one gets killed. That could lead to a re-pairing for the survivor. Many species nest through August. I have seen young barn swallows still in a nest on Labor Day less than three weeks before they must begin migration for thousands of miles.
For information on any bird species breeding in Oregon, visit the Oregon Birding website.
For information about upcoming Salem Audubon programs and activities, see www.salemsudubon.org, or Salem Audubon’s Facebook page.
Harry Fuller is an Oregon birder and natural history author of “Freeway Birding.” He is a member of the Salem Audubon Society. Contact him at [email protected] or http://www.towhee.net/. His “Some Fascinating Things About Birds” column will be appearing regularly in Salem Reporter.
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