Bird on a Wire

[JohnBoy]

Our pasture has been home to a pair of Great Horned Owls for the last three years. This is not a good thing for the furry woodland creatures that attempt to co-exist with these formidable hunters - but they do entertain us with their antics. This is one of the young owls - still trying to figure out some of life's basics.

Check out the talons on this 'baby'.

So much for wire sitting. . . time to try another spot.

Much better!!

 

[Stoots]

Excellent pics!

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Horned Owls are fierce predators. Once when I was hunting in Eastern Washington state one flew past me with a hen pheasant in its claws (I guess they don't pay much attention to the game laws....). We have a pair in the little park by us; at a certain time of the year they hoot almost all night long. How they find time to catch bunnies with all that hooting, I don't know.

Any critter that crows hate that much is OK with me! Great pix; thanks for sharing.

 

[JohnBoy]

Fierce predators, indeed! I doubt this muskrat ever knew what hit it. Here you see one of the adult owls feeding muskrat bits to a fledgling - and teaching the fledgling how to pluck bits of meat directly from the source.

And speaking of Crows, one of the Great Horned Owls apparently busted a Crow one evening as there were black feathers strewn all over under a tree in the yard the following morning. I suspect the hatred is mutual as Crows are notorious egg thieves.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Excellent pictures!

 

[BearBio]

'
"And speaking of Crows, one of the Great Horned Owls apparently busted a Crow one evening as there were black feathers strewn all over under a tree in the yard the following morning. I suspect the hatred is mutual as Crows are notorious egg thieves"

Oh, yeah! I've probably seen more owls in the daytime because of the crows mobbing them. Saw several mobbing a golden one day until the eagle decided to teach them to fly. Killed two of them before they left him/her alone.

 

[KWYJIBO]

That is very cool! I love owls, and you got some great pictures. How fun it must be to have them around so close that you can watch them grow, hunt, eat, and do all their owly stuff right before your eyes.

 

[rugerdczr]

I took this picture in my Deer stand in Kansas a couple of years ago, he was two feet over my head all day and would peek out every so often.