Home Turf - Welcome to Subirdia - page 1

one. Home Turf
With the disappearance of the forest, all is changed.
—George Perkins Marsh, Man and Nature (1864)
Who? Who? Whoo? The annual interrogation started at 3 a.m. on a cold
January morning. I was used to the interruption and, from the comfort of my
bed, listened intently for any response. In the distance I heard a soft reply:
Hoo! Hoo! Hooo! I would have preferred the harmony of two singers rather
than the long-distance debate that was just beginning. This conversation—a
typical territorial encounter between the two male great horned owls that
divvy up my neighborhood—was going to last for a while. These owls, each of
which stands nearly two feet tall, get an early start on spring by reasserting
their property boundaries and courting in the heart of winter. As far as scien-
tists know, they spend their entire adult lives in the same area, with their life-
long mates. If the male in my yard is able to keep the neighboring owls away,
then his partner might spruce up the old crow nest, high in the i r trees, and
lay a clutch of two white eggs. She would then incubate the eggs for a month
and brood the young owlets. As long as their ef orts succeed, both members of
the pair would hunt the neighborhood for mice, squirrels, and other small