Horned Owl - Bubo virginianus
Habitat	Found everywhere from dense hardwood forests, pine woods, farm fields to deserts. Also very common in cities and suburbs.
Ecological Niche	Horned owls are the largest and most powerful nocturnal avian predator. Strictly carnivorous, they will eat any animal from large insects and small mice to opossums, fox, small bobcat, and even other owls. Horned owls are likely to be the only predator of skunks.
Life Cycle	They take over old nests of other large birds and lay 2 to 3 eggs in late winter (January), which hatch after about 4 weeks of incubation. Young owls begin hunting at about 4 weeks of age. They can live to 25 years of age.
Behavior and physical adaptations	Horned owls have all the typical characteristics of other owls. Additionally, they have "horns" or "ears" which are part of their camouflage which have evolved to look like broken twigs or branches when they sit quietly in trees. Horned owls have powerful feet and toes which can grip with 500 pounds per square inch of pressure. Horned owls are at the top of the food chain - even eagles leave them alone in spite of being 3 to 5 times larger in size. Environmentally unaware humans are the horned owls' only enemy.