the big owl

the1much

Currently Birdless Hippy
11 Years
Jul 20, 2008
5,351
64
251
with maurice, the original space-cowboy
this morning the wifers was outside before sunrise having a cig. she opens the door and says,, Jim, look at this owl,,,, he was sitting on a pole in our alley,, it was cool looking just a hoot'n,, then it flew to the edge of the driveway on the electric pole there, i went to the front of the house to watch it, jus ta make sure she wasnt scoping out my pens,,hehe,, and she looked like she was loosing her balance,, tail went up in the air,, and all of a sudden,,, ANOTHER owl was swooping down on her ( i didnt think it was mating season) well he got on her, they fell, and a BIG spark went off,,, they both fell to the ground, and of course i went to see, 1 got up and flew away, the other TRIED to fly, but was having BIG problems,, she was about 3 feet off the ground, went across the road,, and WHAM,, a car got her
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i ran out and grabbed her before other cars would smoosh her,, it was almost time for my DD to wait for the bus, so i didnt want her standing there watching a bird being smooshed over and over.,, man was she pretty. and its sad she dead, they really are no threat to my birds, they stay in till its daylight. so now i guess i have to sneek off and bury her without anyone seeing me,,, it might be a pred. ,, but was not causing my birds any harm,, so sad it died like that,, but also so cool to see them try to mate, and wow surprising to see that second 1.
 
Mrs.Puff :

Indeed, it is mating season for owls. They mate really early, and lay eggs very early. Do you know what kind of owl it was?

i think it was a horned,,, she had the "tall" feathers above her eyes, but i really dont know what kind of owls are around here cept the ground owls,, havent been here long enough to see the big ones lol.
and since you said that,,, YUP they were mating,, too bad that happened, could use some extra mousers around here
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Great Horrned Owl Bubo virginnaus sp? Wow you saw the mating of two owls. What a spark that must have been. Too bad it ended in such a tragedy. What a cool story. Maybe the mate can find another before its too late in the season. This owl specie at least uses reverse photo periodism to stimulate egg laying and breeding. Eggs will be laid in late December November. Largest owl in North America often compared to the Great Grey Owl up north. Very cool story.
 
wowz ,, thanks for the info guys ,, least i know i did see what i thought i saw. i'd take a pic and post it, but 1 eye was hanging out, and some how i would probably get in trouble, even though i didnt kill it.
i kinda feel special being able to see the mating,, guess 1 of them was an "over achiever" he
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How sad.
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We love to hear the owls here, we mostly have screech owls, barred owls, and great horned owls. They have never been a problem for our chickens. If she's not too torn up and you haven't buried her yet, you might want to see if a nature center or college wants her, lots of times they'll stuff and display them. Or even the zoo. Seems a waste of a beautiful bird to bury it. Thanks for picking her up, anyway.
 

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