Great-horned Owl Fun in 2018

[centrarchid]

I just checked on camera flushing owl. It was near top of oak SE of poultry hard. I walked within 50 feet of it without flushing. It is Oliver, little SOB.

 

[centrarchid]

Owl came back to consume head and neck. Then it went back to same spot in same oak tree and sat when son and I went out to check setup. Camera was not properly turned. I put carcass in a location owl can see, but cannot reach. It will come back tomorrow night when I have camera and possibly audio recording device setup. I woulld like to setup audio recorder directly under carcass to record sound of owl eating and possibly chickens giving alarms close but. I also have two additional work cameras that will be used till Monday.

 

[WthrLady]

Baaaad Oliver. Watching viking in the morning. Shhhhhh.

 

[centrarchid]

Owl now camping out all night in yard. Food not limiting. Mice and voles all over.

 

[centrarchid]

Owl has started watching me from same perch in oak tree around 1715. Numbnut watched me feverishly try to get observation setup. The about 1830 it landed on chair and began eating carcass. Chickens were dead silent. All three dogs were in yard watching owl in barn. They were not in position when owl came in.

Carcass tied to my wife's chair. Do not tell her. Chair oriented so I can see owl clearly from house a little over 100 yards away.

First group of chickens with a game camera trained on them.

Second group of chickens with camera trained on them.

Now I go flush owl and get memory cards to upload. Oliver will likely come right back after I leave the barn. Looks like a small child perched on top of latter in barn.

 

[centrarchid]

I am having lighting issues causing over-exposure for camera on owl. Game cameras need to be corrected for time change.

Carcass after a good amount of carcass consumed.

Owl still sitting in exact same spot it was in earlier and last night. It has a full tummy.

Pullet in a another location where she was still riled even after owl gone for a good 15 minutes.

Bucket used to cover carcass until tomorrow night. I need to get sound recordings made.

Action parts.
Chickens roosting quietly before owl.

Birds riled holding feathers in classic owl is present mode. Behavior not quite natural as they normally can not see owl so clearly.

 

[centrarchid]

Owl was back yet again. It was down low in back of barn. It seemed to make an alarm call while flying out. It looked like it was briefly hung in something.

 

[centrarchid]

Owl back eating on carcass again. I am done for the night. Tomorrow we will have a rematch using the GoPro.

 

[centrarchid]

As of this morning at least half of original carcass consumed. Before all this started pullet weighed almost 4 lbs. It appears the owl tried to move carcass as is is now getting down into weight range that can be carried in flight. Tie down stopped it.

The biggest difference between a hawk and GHO in terms of kill sight is the absence of feathers for the owl's efforts. The hawk would have feathers everywhere.

Tonight I will check beneath owl's roost for pellets where those ingested feathers and bones and chucked back up.

 

[centrarchid]

Owl came in several times last night to feed but otherwise perched in oak tree watching me. We had a strange windy fog then a good inch or too of rain with thunder and lightening.

Luckily I had battery problems with camera, otherwise it would have been damaged by water. Fog wetted things all the way through the barn.