MOUNT VERNON — Two baby great horned owls discovered April 25 on a sidewalk at Cornell College have created a living laboratory for the campus.
One owlet remains, often perched on a 4-foot-high ledge on the west side of King Chapel. The other owlet most likely has flown off, said Bob Black, Cornell biology professor. Campus security officials have roped off the area to protect both the birds and passers-by in case the owlets’ parents get overly protective.
Black says it is not unusual for baby great horned owls to leave their nests before being fully capable of flight. He says the nest likely was in an open turret on the west side of King Chapel.
“They can fly well enough so they don’t hurt themselves when they have dropped 50 feet out of the nest, but they can only manage to fly back up about 5 feet,” Black says.
The remaining owlet has most of its feathers and should be able to fly soon, but if it’s still around on Thursday, May 2, Black will hold a short program at 1 p.m. outside King Chapel, where people can view the owlet and learn information on the natural history of owls. If the owl leaves before Thursday, the caution tape will be removed and the program will be canceled. Great horned owls are a protected species, so moving the owlet or capturing it would violate state and federal laws.
“The parents are keeping tabs on the one,” Black said, noting a mature owl perched on a high ledge near a King Chapel roof peak.
Great horned owls occur throughout the Midwest and are among the first birds to nest each spring. Typically great horned owls begin nesting in February. Nests often are located in tree cavities, caves, logs, nest boxes or even in the old tree nests of other raptors. Incubation of the two to three eggs laid in a typical great horned owl nest takes 26 to 35 days. Young are able to fly after about 35 days. Both parents feed the young for a few months after they fledge. Great horned owls prey upon a variety of ground-based creatures including small mammals, rabbits, cats, skunks, birds and invertebrates.