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 |