17 February 2026

Late last month when it was only 6°F Dana Nesiti found and recorded a male great horned owl at his daytime roost. At this time of year male owls roost within sight and sound of their mate’s location. Soon the pair will be parents. This bird is Papa Owl.

Great horned owls breed in winter and by late January have already paired up and selected a nest which they stole from another species(*). The female spends daylight at the nest, lays eggs and incubates. The male roosts nearby in case he is needed during the day. At night he hunts and brings her food.

Last year Dana chronicled Schenley Park’s great horned owls who used an old red-tailed hawk nest on the Panther Hollow Bridge. In early February, before the eggs hatched, the male roosted in the super structure of the bridge.

After the eggs hatched he roosted further away in a tree while the young grew up.

The siblings were adorable. When they became independent they flew away to find their own homes.

This year the old Panther Hollow Bridge nest was removed in preparation for major bridge repairs beginning next month but, as you will learn in Dana’s video, owls have a relatively small territory and they do not leave.

The Schenley Park pair is somewhere in or near the park this year but I don’t know where. The female and nest are easiest to find because they are large and stationary, or finding the male in January/February is a good clue to her location.

But first you have to find the owl.

Here’s a Papa Owl that Dana found somewhere in Allegheny County. This is what to look for.

(*) Great horned owls never build a nest.