Image ResultWe built our house on the ranch 29 years ago. Martin creek borders our backyard along with the main corrals and a stand of giant old trees. When we started laying out the house, my father-in-law Les pointed up into one of the trees and showed me a Great Horned Owl who spent her days resting and watching us. By early summer, she had three owlets who got huge and downy and were absolutely amazing and hilarious to watch. Our family loved our owl and her broods for many years, we even put up with our mama owl occasionally eating our chickens.
Then one summer, I found her on the ground in the main corrals. She was alive but skin and bones. I walked right up to her and could have reached down and touched her. She had been bitten by a mosquito carrying West Nile virus, and despite my leaving her small rodents and a shallow dish of water, she was dead within the week. After my owl, I watched quite a few beautiful birds of prey also die that season, all displayed the same symptoms. I still think about that beautiful girl and what a terrible thing it was to lose her.
I also watched an assortment of barn owls and little burrowing owls that lived around the ranch, and I was always delighted that our whole family kept track of the same creatures, even though we had all discovered them on our own. It was fun to compare notes over bbqed steaks in the backyard or just while driving or riding around the ranch. If we had a project that might disturb one of our friends, we generally made plans to work around so the owls could stay put.
I was delighted when, a few years ago, I noticed another Great Horned Owl had taken up permanent residence in one of the big Box Elder trees at the top of the main ranch yard, and another in a huge old apple tree behind the old Victorian. I still find myself looking for them every time I walk or drive by. So far, I’ve only seen one owlet between them, but I became so interested in watching the little family that I almost moved over to my in-laws house full time to watch them everyday.
About six months ago, Patrice and I started noticing another Great Horned owl along our road when we’d drive in after dark. We have a set of gates about a mile in on our main ranch road that we recently reset with power poles. We set the poles at about 12 feet above ground level and apparently, that is the perfect height for our new friend to sit and survey it’s hunting ground. If we have cattle in one of those upper fields, we have to open and close the gate, and I’m always amazed at how unafraid the owl seems to be. It only startles and flies off about a third of the time. I love the nights it doesn’t fly and seems to ignore me as I open and close the gate. I feel lucky beyond measure to get a great view of such a magnificent creature. I also like to see evidence of what it’s killed overnight. Id say at least weekly I’ll come by during the day and see part of a vole, rabbit or part of a bird hanging on its pole.
I enjoy talking to my owls and they watch and listen to me for a bit before flying away. I hope I don’t disturb them too much. They sure bring a lot of pleasure to our lives.
Kris Stewart is a rancher from Paradise Valley, Nevada.
