Review-Mirror

By Maggie Fleming For The Review-Mirror Great Horned Owls are large, thick-bodied owls with two promi- nent feathered tufts on the head. They have enormous yellow eyes set in a broad face, a curved beak and claws, and long fluffy feathers. The wings are broad and rounded. In flight, the rounded head and short bill combine to create a blunt-headed silhouette. They are mottled gray-brown, with reddish brown faces and a neat white patch on the throat. Like other owls, the female Great Horned Owl is con- siderably larger than the male, averaging about 2 kg to the male's 1 to 1.5 kg, with a wingspan of about 1.2 m. The only larger owl is the Snowy Owl. Their eyes are so large they can't move them in their sockets. As a result it turns its head. If an owl starts with its head in the for- ward position, it can easily rotate to look directly behind itself. But if the owl starts with its head rotated to the back over one shoulder, it can easily turn its head back to the front and then to the back over the other shoulder. This means the can see all the way around themselves without having to move their bodies at all. They are native to North, Cen- tral and South America— found from the sub arctic to Argentina; it is our most widely distributed owl and has a variety of habitats, from urban areas to the forest, the desert, swamps, rainforests, and even the sub arctic. They do not make their own nests. They will take nests from red-tailed hawks, crows, and even squirrels. Nests are usually only used for a single mating season because they are easily destroyed by all the hatchling activity. They may also nest in tree cavities, or rock ledges. Territorial, on aver- age, there will be one pair per 7-10 km2. Great horned owls will pair with a single mate for their life, unless that mate is killed, and will return to the same territory for a number of years. They begin breeding in their second year, although occasionally younger birds breed if food is plentiful. Great horned owls breed during the winter months (January-Febru- ary). The female incubates the eggs for one month. Females will lay rough surfaced dull white and nearly spherical, 1-5 eggs—food availability being the biggest fac- tor in number of eggs deposited. Hatchlings appear mid-April to early May, and the mother will brood the hatchlings continuously for 2 weeks, with the male bring- ing food to the mother and hatch- lings. Owlets are covered in down feathers and will not be able to leave the nest until 2 months of age. They will remain within their parent's territory until the fall. The time before fledging is critical for the owlets to learn how to hunt, fly, and be an owl (if owlets are raised by humans during this time, they will be human-imprinted). Death rates are high, with 50 per cent of young that leave the nest dying during their first year. Great Horned Owls are capable of handling a wide variety of prey, ranging in size from shrews and songbirds to skunks and geese. Great Horned Owls are noctur- nal. You may see them at dusk sit- ting on fence posts or tree limbs at the edges of open areas, or flying across roads or fields with stiff, deep beats of their rounded wings. Their call is a deep, stuttering series of four to five hoots. • • • For information about joining the Rideau Lakes Birding Group please contact Ethel Green at 613- 273-4712. Ffollow our weekly report at http://www.twprideau lakes.on.ca/rec-birders.html the review-Mirror January 11, 2018 – 13 Good birding... Owl's eyes are so large they can't move them in their sockets. As a result it turns its head. If an owl starts with its head in the forward posi- tion, it can easily rotate to look directly behind itself. 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YOUR LOCAL PROPANE SUPPLIER SeRvInG: Residental • Commercial • Industrial • Agricultural • Bulk markets • Small cylinder exchange program • Hot water tanks for sale 24-hour emergency service also available. 51 INDUSTRIAL ST., PERTH ON Tel: 613-267-1752 Fax 613-267-1959 1-866-699-1799 PROPANE FRENCH'S Automotive & Welding CROSBY, 200 yds East of Hwy. 15 on 42 • Hydraulic Hoses custom built 1/4" - 1" • General Repairs • Aluminum • Cars, Trucks • Stainless Steel • Foreign & Domestic • Mild Steel, etc. • Safety Inspections Incl. Dump Trucks & Trailers 272-2465 MOBILE WELDER AVAILABLE AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS MARKETPLACE GEORGE BRACKEN LTD. ONTARIO LAND SURVEYORS • LEGAL SURVEYS • REFERENCE PLANS • SITE PLANS • SUBDIVISIONS • SEVERANCE • CONDOMINIUMS • MORTGAGE PLANS • TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS Smiths Falls, Ontario The holidays are over and win- ter has settled in for the long haul. Pasta is always a good choice for a cold night. Instead of a tomato based sauce try this one. Blue cheese has a strong flavour and a little bit goes a long way. INGREDIENTS 4 cups of your favourite pasta, cooked and tossed with 2 Tbls olive oil 1 cup half and half cream 3 1/2 ounces crumbled blue cheese 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp black pepper PREPARATION Heat the cream in a saucepan over low heat until warm. Stir in the blue cheese, garlic powder, lemon juice, salt and pep- per. Cook gently on a low setting until the blue cheese has melted and the sauce is hot, but not boil- ing. Place the pasta in a bowl and pour the sauce over top, stir to combine and serve immediately. • • • Gail Marshall is a cook and baker with an interest in fast, healthy and low cost recipes. Gail Marshall gailmarshall58 @gmail.com Women entrepreneurs tackle chocolate and gin Do you ever wonder what it takes to become a success- ful business woman? What better way to warm up a cold January evening than to learn how two enterprising women have brought spirits and artisanal chocolate to Perth. On Monday Jan. 15, hear how Heather McKeen of Perth Chocolate Works and Hanna Murphy of Top Shelf Distillers got to where they are today. McKeen, proprietor of Perth Chocolate Works, can be found either behind the counter of her premises in Code's Mill or in the workshop behind, creating handcrafted chocolates. Heather attended the University of Ottawa where she earned a degree in business management, but continued to take courses in chocolate-making, providing her with a diverse knowledge base in both the business and creative side of running a specialty chocolate store. The Perth com- munity has been very welcoming, she says, and is support- ive of local business. And who can resist the smell of cof- fee and the lure of chocolate? A different kind of artisanal treat was brought back to Perth recently by Hanna Murphy, a "home-town gal" who co-founded and now manages a successful Craft Distillery business here. Hanna joined forces with serial entrepreneur John Criswick from Ottawa as an investor/director and Voila -- Top Shelf was born! As distillers of gin, vodka, moonshine and whisky spir- its the company celebrates Perth's rich history as one of the first distilling towns in Canada, using locally-sourced ingredients such as corn and maple syrup. Most fittingly, Top Shelf Distillers opened its doors just in time for the town's 200th anniversary celebrations -- 100 years after whisky was last produced in Perth. The Top Shelf team will tell us more about this exciting venture. The Perth & District Chapter of The Canadian Federa- tion of University Women (CFUW) invites you to join them Monday at 6:30 pm in the Perth Legion, 26 Beckwith Street East, to learn more about these two entrepreneurs and their non-traditional career paths.

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