Marion County Naturalist Martha Mertz shares with KNIA/KRL News what lies ahead in the winter months outdoors.

January seems way too early for some of the birds to consider nesting. When it comes to actual nesting times, the drama of defending territories can cause quite a rumble. This is the time that some of the birds get a little ruffle in their feathers.

Eagles are fashioning their nest to lay eggs as early as February or March. Another resident bird of prey is ready to nest during the latter portion of January into February, the great horned owl. Some know this owl as the “tiger of the woods” because of its fierce attitude.

The great horned is Iowa’s largest and most adaptable owl and considered Iowa’s earliest nesters, commonly laying two to three eggs in late January or early February. Great horned owls are monogamous, one male and one female and neither has any involvement with other nesting birds and defend their territories beginning in late fall.