eat photos.
The University I went to had burrowing owls on campus and you would see the owls pretty frequently. I am sure I have some old prints somewhere of them. The owls live in burrows dug by tortoises. The campus was crawling with wild cats. People would drive in and dump the cats,
then crazy students and faculty would feed the cats and we would have more cats.
One night I was out walking near a parking area and there was only one car parked way out in the middle of the lot. Out of a grassy area I saw a cat running like it's tail was on fire. That cat was heading for the car as fast as it could go, which was pretty fast.
The cat was running because not one, but two, of the owls were after his feline fanny. :laughing: Felix the Feline made it to the car and stayed under there. The two owls setup a parameter on Felix the Feline. One sat on a car barrier off one corner of the car while the other owl sat on another post at the opposite corner of the car. Felix was trapped with no way out.
Felix was too big to eat so I think the owls were protecting a burrow with a nest.
Before we got the current place, I owned a lot that had a beaver problem. One evening I was down near the beaver pond hiding behind a pretty big tree to watch the beavers. I heard something, looked up, and about scatted in my pants. A gigantic owl had just flared out on a limb above my head. His wings were still outstretched and they looked to be about 12 feet long!
It looked like Count Dracula was swooping in for a snack and I was the snack. :laughing: I am not sure if the owl saw me or not. I was not moving and hunkered down but I sure saw him. After I put my heart back in my chest I watched the owl watch for beavers.
Eventually Count Dracula's cousin flew off to scare the scat out of some other poor victim. :laughing:
We have owls that hang around our place. I hear them quite often which is very nice. Before we had built the house I was burning a big pile of brush. I would always wait until the weather was just right, no wind, after a rain and hopefully rain on the way. I got a window to burn and I did but it took forever for the fire to start. I called the wifey and asked her to bring me some food, sleeping bag, more water, and warmer clothes because I was going to have to send the night watching the fire. She and our child came out with the stuff and we sat for awhile watching the burn pile. There were a couple of tall trees behind where we were sitting. It was nice and quiet. No noise except the fire. A big owl, I think it was a second cousin to Count Dracula, landed in one of the trees and HOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDD!
The wifey about jumped out of her skin.
I do like owls and hawks. Sometimes we get to see them close up and during the day.
Later,
Dan
