[bcbirdclub] Night Drama - Owls, Foxes and Rabbit
- From: "Roger Mayhorn" <mayhorn@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "BCBC Listserve" <bcbirdclub@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 01:28:33 -0500
Hi All,
This bit of drama unfolded in the yard shortly after midnight.
The fog was extremely thick after a day of rain. I saw through the window that
the outside motion sensitive light had come on. I looked out to see the two
resident Barred Owls perched in the yard. One was perched atop a 4x4 post that
holds a bluebird box; the other was perched about 5 feet off the ground in the
cherry tree just outside the kitchen window. The one in the tree was closely
examining the ground below it.
After sitting there for about a minute the owl dropped from the branch to the
ground and grabbed a nightcrawler and gulped it down. It sat there for a few
seconds then flew about four feet and pounced on another worm. This one was so
long that the bird had to lean back a little to get it out of the ground. It
then flew back to its perch with the nightcrawler dangling from its beak. It
then reached up and grasped the worm with its left foot and held it, while it
rearranged its hold on the worm with its beak. Then with three quick jerks of
its head it gulped the nightcrawler down. This went on for a few minutes with
the owl getting five nightcrawlers, which was a bit surprising, considering
that the thermometer read 36 degrees.
Meanwhile the other owl never left its post perch. It just occasionally turned
its head to look around. I don't think it has learned the art of nightcrawler
grabbing.
After the feeding had gone on a short while a rabbit shot suddenly out of the
darkness from the front of the house. It was being chased by one of the Gray
Foxes. The rabbit passed within about ten feet of the feeding owl's perch,
startling the owl as it did so, and disappeared into the shadows. The owl
lifted from the branch, circled around its mate and disappeared into the fog at
the edge of the yard. The mate never moved. It continued to sit there and watch
as the fox stopped to smell around the bush the rabbit had passed. After a few
minutes the fox trotted off into the fog, and the one owl remained sitting on
its perch.
It's better than TV,
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
Other related posts:
- » [bcbirdclub] Night Drama - Owls, Foxes and Rabbit
