A great horned owl is seen in a tree in Lincoln Park on Jan. 11, 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
By Adriana Pérez Chicago Tribune
On her way home from work on a recent wintry night, Kathy Keane ran into a group of people quietly watching a pair of great horned owls perched on a tree in Lincoln Park.
“I started hearing the ‘hoot, hoot,’ and then the other would call back ‘hoot, hoot,’” she told the Tribune. “And it was just so beautiful.”
Excited about the sighting, she made sure to walk by the same spot the next day with her husband, Patrick Keane.
The bird was still on the tree, but then a drone flew toward the owl and scared it away. The Keanes decided to approach the two people piloting the aircraft.
“I’m like, ‘Do you realize you scared the owl with that thing?’” Patrick Keane recalled. “And he got — I’m not exaggerating here — he got a big smile on his face and said, ‘Yeah, we did.’ And he’s like, ‘We scared the other one earlier in the evening.’”
As native great horned owls court and nest in Chicago, and expectations ramp up for rare winter sightings of snowy owls from the Arctic, encounters like this underscore the importance of viewing and photographing these birds safely, experts say.
“The problem of harassing wildlife and specifically owls is not a new one,” said Edward Warden, president of the Chicago Ornithological Society. “There’s something incredibly compelling about them as birds. … People (get) excited to see them when they’re in our midst, whether you call yourself a birder or not, it’s kind of a very universal thing.”
Generally, curious humans disturbing owls is unintentional. But interactions are more likely to occur in the winter, when trees have no leaves and the birds are easier to spot, and as breeding season begins.
The Chicago Bird Alliance says humans can stress out owls by interfering with their hunting, causing fatigue and making them more vulnerable to traffic and predators like peregrine falcons or red-tailed hawks.
Almost 4 million great horned owls can be found in a wide variety of habitats across North America, including in Illinois. This species is often depicted as a wise figure in popular culture and storybooks.
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