I have an barn owl that lives near me. I first heard him hooting well over a year and a half ago. It’s a bit unusual since I live in Chicago, in the middle of buildings but there are lots of trees too. Not a typical owl place.
You can see him, if you look for him, but he hides pretty good. Now I’ve never seen more than one owl, so I am assuming that it’s just him. Of course I could be wrong and I am seeing different owls or he has a family somewhere else and just hangs out in the tree above my flat.
I also noticed a brownish colored heron in the Chicago River. Usually you see ducks and geese, and once in awhile, loons and swans, but they are always a bunch of them. This is a single heron I notice last April. I have seen the heron off and on throughout the summer and I noticed him today as I was walking home. I thought he’d have flown off by now. (I’ve seen him fly so I know he can).
Now I don’t know this is the same heron, but I’ve never seen more than one and he’s always in the same place in the river. You can see him staring at the water shaking his head. I’m assuming he’s hunting for frogs or whatever they eat.
So my question is, if assuming these are single birds that somehow got seperated from their groups, would a wild animal leave to try to find others like it so they could mate.
Obviously the hunting must be good 'cause the owl and the heron stick around and have been around for a long time. So they have enough food and good hunting ground.
I got to thinking, do the birds say “Well I’m getting enough to eat, and I have no competiton from others like me, so it’s worth it not to have a mate.”
And I do realize that they could have a family somewhere and are just flying miles to a place where they can hunt rats or frogs or whatever owls and herons eat.
It depends on the animal. There’s an albatross? I think? somewhere in the wrong hemisphere where he got blown by a storm. He’s very much alone, and I want to say I’ve read about him appearing to be looking for a mate, which of course he won’t be finding where he is. On the other hand, a solitary animal like, say, a tiger probably wouldn’t get very lonely. Horny, maybe.
Separating a pack animal would IMHO be quite cruel, though; that’s one of the sad things about those dogs who live on short little backyard chains their whole lives. They’re pack animals and need a “pack”, be it dog, human, or otherwise.
Tropical schooling fish that aren’t kept with others of their kind do get stressed, by the way. Some species are much easier to keep in their proper numbers.
Aha! The albatross’ name is Albert and he has probably spent 40 years looking for love in all the wrong places. He has been seen doing his courtship thing at gannets, who remain unimpressed. Here is an article.
Barns owls and great blue herons tend to be pretty solitary, and it is the non-breeding season. The heron may overwinter there, assuming local bodies of water don’t freeze over.
As has been said, it depends on the species. Some birds are solitary, except when breeding. Others spend most of their time in flocks, and will look for others of their kind even when not breeding.
An adult bird that’s in breeding condition will normally go look for a mate if there isn’t one in the immediate neighborhood.
Barn Owls normally nest in human structures (barns, attics, under bridges) if they are available (hence the name). If you are seeing one roosting in a tree that means it is probably not breeding.
If the heron was hanging out in the same spot from April through the summer, and there were no other herons around, it probably did not breed this year. It may have been an immature bird that was not interested in looking for a mate.
