A secondary function of a great horned owl’s hooting is its challenge to others of his sex.
A secondary function of a great horned owl’s hooting is its challenge to others of his sex. In regions where great horned owls are common, the males do a great deal of competitive hooting from favorite perches in their territories.
Thus, in the creek bottoms south of Lawrence, Kansas, where one horned owl territory was often hemmed in on two sides by the ranges of other individuals, one bird would hoot and in regular sequence as many as four or five others would answer.
It was seldom that two birds were heard calling simultaneously.
• Image | © Josh More, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
• Sources | (Baumgartner, 1983)
