Owl City!

Head swiveled 180 degrees checking me out!

Not the rock band! Weird deal. Yesterday I started out the back door in the morning and was stopped in my tracks by a very large owl sitting on the deck hand rail, gazing at me curiously through the screen door. I froze so as not to scare it off, slowly backed up, and frantically searched for a camera. I shouldn't have panicked. The bird was very set on staying right where he was. Couldn't find the camera, then I remembered it was in the glove box of the truck. So, I ran and dragged Kim out of the bedroom to see the owl before it took off. It was patiently waiting for us when we returned. I sneaked out the other side of the house, got the camera, and snapped some pictures.

Took this from the driveway

According to our "Birds of North America" field guide, it was a mature big eared owl. They are often confused with Great Horned owls, but I am certain this was a big eared. You can see by the pictures it was a beauty. We have heard owls around the place before, and once a barn owl took up residence out in our barn but didn't stay long. I was hoping it would, to cut down on the bird population in there. Come to think of it, the little birdies were pretty scarce for a few days!

So, Kim is reading up on big eared owls, and it turns out that one of their favorite prey species is domesticated cats! I remember when we moved in to this house, the owner telling us he couldn't keep cats long because the "owls got 'em before they grew out of kitten-hood." I have a difficult time picturing an owl, even a big one, flying off with our cat Lumina. Although she would be a tempting target, as the owl would probably be able to make it through the winter on just the one kill! Cat sirloin.....Nahhh!

The owl finally flew away to a tree just outside our rail fence by the round pen and sat there the rest of the day. Pretty cool! So today I was out plowing the driveway in the driving snow, and I glanced over my shoulder at the truck (didn't want to back the tractor into it) and saw a pile of feathers in the snow with what looked like talons sticking out. I jumped off the tractor to investigate, and sure enough it was an owl. At first I thought it was the same one. Perhaps it had been sick, that would explain its unafraid behavior.

My highly trained barn owl!

However, when I examined it more closely, it was a barn owl! It was quite dead, so I picked it up and headed for the house. I perched it on my gloved hand so it looked like it was sitting there like a falconer's bird. I walked in the house holding it out, and moving like I didn't want to scare it. You should have seen Kim jump off those crutches! We decided to send it in to school, and give it to the biology teacher (Mr. Valle). There is a student who is really into learning taxidermy, and this owl is in perfect condition. Don't know what killed it.

So, we had Owl City around here this weekend. Perhaps it has something to do with the explosion of large rodents we have had this year. Delta killed a rabbit in the wood pile last week, and I have shot a couple of squirrels. We haven't seen these animals around here much, never any squirrels. Must be global warming!!

That's All!