Douglas & Danielle
Canadian Great Horned Owl
Douglas & Danielle
Douglas and Danielle are wonderful parents! Danielle is an attentive and caring mother and has successfully raised a large number of chicks. Douglas takes his duties as a father very seriously indeed protecting his family and making sure they are well fed. The escape of Danielle one year is now legendary as are Douglas’s parenting skills whilst she was away!
However, as well as behaving just as wild owls should, they are both interested in the people who visit them. Douglas is particularly keen to talk to everyone who pauses outside his aviary!
They are members of an unusual subspecies of Great Horned Owls that come from the North of Canada and are much paler and greyer than the ones seen further South. We are proud that our two are helping to maintain a healthy captive population so that if it is ever necessary to reinforce or renew the wild populations we can do so.
Adopting either or both of these magnificent owls will be helping our conservation programmes.
Latin Name: Bubo virginianus wapacuthu
Conservation Status: Not globally threatened, although normally found at relatively low densities. Persecution, habitat loss, and pesticides may pose threats in some areas.
Wingspan: 160-190cm
Weight: 2 – 3.5kg
Lifespan: 2-4 yrs in the wild, 15-25yrs in captivity
Diet: rats, mice, rabbits, ground squirrels, opossums, skunks, some birds (especially in the north), up to the size of geese, ducks, hawks, and smaller owls. Also eats snakes, lizards, frogs, insects, scorpions, rarely fish.
Average Litter Size: 1-3 eggs.
Habitat: Open woodland and also rocky areas with woods and bushes. In some regions, it can be found up to 4,000m and sometimes higher. Absent from dense or primary forests. One of the most rapacious owl species. In the breeding season, it will not hesitate in attacking predators (including humans) who stray too close to the nest site. It is reputed to be the only owl recorded as killing a human!
Canada (Canadian Great Horned Owl), North America, South America (Great Horned Owl).
