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Subject:

Owl in the yard

From:

Jim Wilson

Reply-To:

Jim Wilson

Date:

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:20:29 -0400

After feeding the chickens this morning, my wife came in to tell me that there 
was a dead chicken in the coop.  Being the manly man in the household, the 
burial duties fall on me.  The first thing I noticed when I picked the chicken up 
was that it was missing its head and neck.  There were no piles of feathers or 
other body parts missing.  From previous experience, I knew that an owl had 
found a meal.  What was strange was that the bird was in the corner of the 
coop, about 8 feet from the door.

So off to the garden I go with the shovel and the bird.  I started digging the 
hole, only to be interrupted by Blue Jays mobbing someone in the pine trees.  
Burial duties would have to wait.  I tracked down the Jays and momentarily 
caught a glimpse of their focus of attention ... an owl flying off  thru the pines 
and into the neighbor's yard with the jays in hot pursuit.  I had no chance to 
ID it, but from size alone, I would guess a Barred Owl.  Nice to have my 
suspicions confirmed.

Jim Wilson
Queenstown