Predator and Prey
I thought I had posted about this owl once before, but I couldn’t find the entry.
About a year ago, I was in the backyard near our chicken coop, when I noticed a very large, very black horned owl sitting square in the middle of the chicken coop on one of the perches. He saw me, and we stood and stared at each other for a few minutes, till he flew up into a tree next to the fenched in chicken yard, still watching me.
I wanted to get a better look, so I started to sneak around the shed, and got somewhat close, but when I started down the path through the woods, he flew off.
This thing was massive. I’ve honestly never seen an owl so big and so magnificant. He was just over my sacred space, so I decided to sit in the middle of it and meditate till it got dark. It was quite exhilarating.
Reading up on great horned owls, they can get just over 2 feet tall, and can be seen in early dawn or late dusk, not just at night. They can live over 30 years in captivity and are also known to swoop in to catch small farm fowl to eat.
This was a year ago, and I haven’t seen him since.
However, my father has. Just the other day, this granddaddy owl was seen in our chicken yard again, having just ripped the head off of one of our Rhode Island Red roosters. My dad spooked it, and it flew away, but this was the first time it had targetted one of our own chickens.
The next day, we noticed the corpse of a guinea in the woods, decapitated. And yesterday we found another rooster.
So I’m in a bit of a dilemma. A creature as beautiful, honored, and respected as this great horned owl, is now preying on my critters. I’d be fine if it was just once in a while, and the rest of the time he fed on snakes and mice/rats around the chicken coop. But I can’t allow him to just eat them all.
I know that I want to get a picture of him, so I will be camping out at every sunrise and sunset to see if I can catch one. But what to do about his choice of eateries is leaving me in quite a pickle.
Entry viewed times. Posted in Environment and Nature
2 Responses to “Predator and Prey”
August 5th, 2006 at 1:31 am
Maybe you can call your local game and fish department. I am sure they would love to see this guy. they may also have tips for you. Hope you get a pic, he sounds awesome!
April 6th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
[…] He’s gotten another one, this will make number 3. It must have happened sometime during the night, which means he should be full belly’d until sometime tonight. Not that I will be home anyway, but perhaps tomorrow I can catch a picture of him. […]