December 16, 2007 - Forest Chat Welcome to the Nature Notebook. On-line chat rooms might be popular these days, but Great Horned Owls had their own version long before computers were around. Each year in mid to late winter, these large owls begin to call with a series of hoots that sound like they are saying, “Who’s awake? Mee too!” [insert Great Horned Owl audio] Male owls do this to establish and maintain a territory that can be as big as two square miles. The male defends this territory from intruders by hooting from a number of perches. In the process, Great Horned Owl hoots also attract a mate or reinforce the bond with its mate from the previous year. Two owls will chat back and forth through a winter night with first one owl calling then the other answering in real time.  This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.