Here in Minnesota, we have twelve species of owls on a regular basis. One of the most secretive of these is the Long-eared Owl. It is the slimmest of all the North American owls and vaguely resembles a smaller, slimmer Great Horned Owl. They can be found in about two-thirds of the state with the exception of the southwest corner. Here in the north-central part of the state, they usually begin nesting in May and like other owls, they don’t build a nest of their own, taking over old crow or hawk nests. Over the years, I have found five different Long-eared Owl nests and have to admit that they were all found by accident. They were all first found after dark by hearing the begging cries of the young. By stopping and listening for a while, you can eventually hear the low, soft musical hoots of the adults, a kind of quoo-quoo-quoo. Of these nest, three were in large stands of spruce and jack pine and the other two were in wind rows near farms, only a matter of a couple of hundred feet from buildings, well hidden in the pines.

Read the rest of the Warren's column in our February issue...