I found this beautiful owl sitting on a limb about 3 ft above an
almost dry wetland slough. I believe it was hunting crayfish and reptiles.
Barred Owl (Strix varia)
W. Kentucky, USA - 7/28/2018
1/250 sec - f/9.0 - ISO 250
Interesting Tidbit: Barred owls have a varied diet. They eat many
small mammals, especially rodents such as mice and voles. They
eat a variety of reptiles like lizards and snakes, as well as amphibians
such as frogs and salamanders. They will also occasionally eat insects.
~NatureMapping~
Excellent and a very beautiful image, MikeB. It is the most common owl in our area and recently saw one that had captured an adult rabbit in our yard. As I was going out to feed the birds one morning I could see something in our driveway and as I approached it flew and I could see that it had eaten one side of the rabbits face so continued on over to our neighbors home to feed their birds and on returning took a wide berth around the kill but could see that the owl was back feeding... it probably stayed for another half an hour and when I checked had eaten one side of its face and had almost severed its neck! I left the remains there for most of the rest of the day hoping that it would come back and finish it, but it did not return! I always had wondered how large a prey it would take on but now know that large rabbits are on the menu! Our monthly magazine published by the Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries once featured an image of a Barred Owl perched on a cypress knee intently watching some small minnows and saying that it would sometimes feed on minnows as well as other water creatures. I have also seen them feed on snakes.
Swamp-Cork wrote:
Excellent and a very beautiful image, MikeB. It is the most common owl in our area and recently saw one that had captured an adult rabbit in our yard. As I was going out to feed the birds one morning I could see something in our driveway and as I approached it flew and I could see that it had eaten one side of the rabbits face so continued on over to our neighbors home to feed their birds and on returning took a wide berth around the kill but could see that the owl was back feeding... it probably stayed for another half an hour and when I checked had eaten one side of its face and had almost severed its neck! I left the remains there for most of the rest of the day hoping that it would come back and finish it, but it did not return! I always had wondered how large a prey it would take on but now know that large rabbits are on the menu! Our monthly magazine published by the Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries once featured an image of a Barred Owl perched on a cypress knee intently watching some small minnows and saying that it would sometimes feed on minnows as well as other water creatures. I have also seen them feed on snakes.
Excellent and a very beautiful image, MikeB. It is... (
show quote)
Excellent reply Swamp Cork! I have had a similar experience when I had the good fortune to watch a Barred owl chase and catch a grey squirrel. Like your experience, it ate a good portion of the head end but did not finish it. I just thought, well some other scavenger will find a good meal as a result. Nature has it's own ways and it's not always pretty but it is efficient.
Thanks guys! I appreciate all the comments!
ngrea
Loc: Sandy Spring, Maryland
A lovely photo. I especially like the expressive eyes
Pretty sure this guy was just waiting to have his portrait taken by an outstanding photographer!
MikeBl wrote:
I found this beautiful owl sitting on a limb about 3 ft above an
almost dry wetland slough. I believe it was hunting crayfish and reptiles.
Barred Owl (Strix varia)
W. Kentucky, USA - 7/28/2018
1/250 sec - f/9.0 - ISO 250
Interesting Tidbit: Barred owls have a varied diet. They eat many
small mammals, especially rodents such as mice and voles. They
eat a variety of reptiles like lizards and snakes, as well as amphibians
such as frogs and salamanders. They will also occasionally eat insects.
~NatureMapping~
I found this beautiful owl sitting on a limb about... (
show quote)
Very nice photo. The insects must be desert....Rich
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