The young fledge from the nest at 45-55 days old. Food and Hunting Great horned owls tend to perch during the daylight hours in a protected rocky alcove or on a tree limb. They mainly hunt at night, but may hunt in daylight hours. From a quiet perch, the owl listens for sounds that betray a creature's presence. They may move about from tree to tree to get a better fix on the source of the sound.
Smaller prey is swallowed whole, but larger prey are torn into pieces.
Great horned owls eat a wide variety of prey, both small and large. Cottontail rabbits seem to be a prominent food, but the owls will take squirrels, shrews, jackrabbits, muskrats, mice, weasels, skunks, pocket gophers, snakes, domestic cats, bats, beetles, scorpions, frogs, grasshoppers, and a wide variety of birds, from small passerines like juncos and sparrows to wild ducks, grouse, pheasants, and even other owls. It seems that the world is one big smorgasbord to a great horned owl. Several hours after an owl has eaten, its stomach forms a pellet of fur, feathers, exoskeletons, and bones - indigestible parts of its meal. Owls may have a favorite roost or perch spot where they cast out these pellets.