As we finished practice tonight at the intramural fields at University of
Richmond, it was dusk, about 8pm. The lights were not on tonight. A group of
eight nighthawks passed over heading southeast. Usually during this time of
year when the field lights are on, many nighthawks can be seen feeding on
insects in the space over the fields. Since the lights were not on, it was
much darker than usual, and the nighthawks were not stopping. However, as a
teammate of mine was running a cool-down lap around the fields, a not-so-large
Barred owl swooped down and clawed at his head. (he has long scraggly hair..)
Needless to say, he was quite surprised, and called me over to check out the
owl, which had lighted just 10-12 feet away from him on a low branch at the
edge of the field. We watched it for about 10 minutes (really just a
silhouette, the light was very poor) and then it flew down to the ground about
six feet in front of us, and then flew away into the woods. I thought this
confrontational behavior was quite unusual for a Barred owl..
Scott Olmstead
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