The owl in this picture is a male owl and it is not Simon! I am pretty sure! He showed up and he was hooting a basic territory kind of hoot. The other human was getting ready for bed and came out to say goodnight, and I asked him if he thought this guy’s hoot was a little lower than last year’s. He agreed but suggested that maybe Simon had just matured. Anyway this gentleman kept hooting for a while, perched right over my neighbor’s house to the south. And then! Daphne arrived from the northeast and hooted, and was almost immediately answered by an owl near her who sounded more like Simon. They did pairs hooting in the yard of my neighbor to the north, and the gentleman in this picture quietly flew off to the west. Then Simon and Daphne had a victory date in my yard that included lots of yodeling, a quick canoodle, and an even quicker round of adult activities. So now my best guess is that the reason we’ve been hearing them SO MUCH this week is that they’re dealing with some territory boundary issues and they’re basically putting up auditory fences. I got some pretty terrible low-light video and if there’s anything worth sharing I’ll share it ASAP!
