Your Land & Water for January 2026
- jhansen49
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
What's in this issue? A look into some of the nocturnal residents of our forests and fields to help you learn where and how to find them!
Owls in January
by Suzanne McCarthy
It’s always a treat to hear owls at night! If you are in a rural location, you may begin to hear them calling to each other in January as they pair up. Great Horned Owls are the most likely ones to hear, with their hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo call. If you are in or near denser woods, you may hear the Barred Owl’s* call: “who cooks for you… who cooks for you all.” Both are the most common owls in South Jersey and live here throughout the year, along with Eastern Screech Owls (that whinny and trill) and Barn Owls* (that screech). Others that breed farther north and migrate here in the winter include the Long-eared Owl*, the Short-eared Owl**, the tiny Saw-whet Owl and the beautiful Snowy Owl. To hear owl calls, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFKv6Z3X32E.
Owls are often depicted as symbols of knowledge and learning in western culture, holding the image of a wise individual. This depiction may be derived from Greek mythology where Athena, the goddess of wisdom, reason, and fairness, is often shown with an owl by her side. However, the nocturnal nature of the owl, with its excellent night vision, is also associated with the capacity to look through the veil of illusion and discover what lies beneath, representing the pursuit of knowledge and truth where there is confusion and obscurity as during the night.
Owls are supreme night hunters. What makes them so successful? Several physical characteristics aid this lifestyle:
Owls are good visual hunters despite being nocturnal. They have tube-shaped eyes that are completely immobile, providing binocular vision which fully focuses on their prey and boosts depth perception. Their eyes are big, with large corneas and pupils, so they can take in more light. Their retinas are also filled with additional rod cells, which increases their ability to see in the dark. They have binocular vision, like other predatory birds such as falcons, and eagles, which allows viewing an item with both eyes open simultaneously. Their eyes are oriented forward, enabling them to locate distances conveniently with increased focal distance. The Great Gray Owl, found in the west, has been documented as seeing and catching a vole from ½ mile away.
Because they cannot move their eyes, owls have highly flexible necks to permit seeing around themselves. They can rotate their head 270 degrees. They cannot turn their heads completely around!
Owls hunt as much by hearing as by sight. They have large, flat, disk-like ears under their feathers on the sides of their head (the tufts on top of the Great Horned Owl and others are feathers only, not ears). These disks are often two slightly different sizes and are located at slightly different heights, so that they can pinpoint the location of a mouse moving slowly in grass.
Owls are silent flyers. Their wings are larger and more rounded than those of day-flying hawks and falcons and their feather edges are fluffy and less streamlined, which reduces the sound of the moving wing. These broader wings also enable them to soar longer, with fewer flaps, which increases their stealth.
Owls swallow their prey whole—skin, bones, and all—and then regurgitate the inedible parts – the bones and fur – as a nice, neat packet called a pellet, that can be found under the preferred roosting tree. Many school children and nature center visitors have enjoyed dissecting these dry pellets and discovering exactly what the owl ate.
Larger owls can eat up to 1,000 mice each year. But owls will eat other owls too. Indeed, the Great Horned Owl is a serious predator of the Barred Owl and the Eastern Screech Owl. Both will move away if a Great Horned moves into its vicinity. Interestingly, owls have little ability to smell, so the Great Horned Owl is one of the few animals that will hunt a skunk, which is actually a favorite food. Perhaps that skunk odor you noticed was a successful Great Horned attack, rather than a car strike.
Unlike many birds, most owls do not build their own nests from scratch but instead adapt existing structures or natural hollows. The Great Horned Owl uses tree nests of other birds such as hawks, crows, squirrels, and Great Blue Herons, but will also use tree cavities, snags of broken trees and wood platforms, and occasionally a building or barn. Many species, such as Eastern Screech-Owls, Barn Owls, and Barred Owls, nest in natural tree hollows or holes created by woodpeckers. Barn Owls frequently nest in man-made locations such as barn lofts, silos, church steeples, and specialized nest boxes.
For many New Jersey owls, males will be locating a nest site in January and calling the female. The pair will mate and then 2 – 3 eggs will be laid during February and into March, depending on the species. The young will hatch about 30 days later, as spring emerges. Owls have thick feathers to keep the young warm when sitting on the nest. Even their legs and feet are feathered! Plus, the young hatch with a layer of fluffy down. The owlets spend about 40 days in the nest before they are ready to depart.
So, listen for owl calls at this time of year. You are more likely to hear an owl than to see it!
Sources:
The Raptor Trust. Owl Facts. Focusing on New Jersey’s Owls. Millington, NJ. n.d.
*designates this species is on the New Jersey Threatened Species List.
**designates this species is on the New Jersey Endangered Species List.
Edited by Jim Hansen
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