[Tweeters] owls and carrion

[Paul Bannick]

I have watched Snowy Owl feed upon a dead adult Arctic Fox .  It was
unlikely it had killed the fox.

On Sat, Dec 5, 2020 at 6:30 PM Wilson Cady <gorgebirds at juno.com> wrote:


> On March 21, 2004 I flushed a Burrowing Owl from the carcass of a road

> killed Red-tailed Hawk while conducting a survey on the Steigerwald Lake

> NWR, Clark County. I did not see it actually feeding on the hawk carcass

> but an examination showed that something had opened the breast.

>

>

> Wilson Cady

> Columbia River Gorge, WA

>

>

> ---------- Original Message ----------

> From: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com>

> To: "pond at whidbey.com" <pond at whidbey.com>

> Cc: Tweeters Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] owls and carrion

> Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2020 01:13:55 +0000 (UTC)

>

>

> Dear Tweeters,

>

> On Christmas Day of 2006, I saw a Northern Pygmy Owl at a carcass. My

> friend's dog had killed a spotted skunk. This was along the South Skagit

> Highway, not far east of Day Creek. The dog had been playing with the

> carcass during the afternoon. By the time I drove down the wooded driveway,

> it was 1300, and the dog had long since abandoned its toy--and retreated to

> his doghouse, whence he was banished for several days, for the crime of

> first-degree stinkiness.

>

> I was not sure if the owl were actually feeding on the dead skunk, but I

> think it was. Perhaps there were insects drawn to the carcass, and the owl

> was feeding on them? Probably not.

>

> That was the only time I had ever seen any suggestion of evidence of an

> owl feeding on carrion.

>

> I still have never seen a live spotted skunk. In fact, I hardly ever see

> live striped skunks in Washington. Back east, I see skunks just about every

> time I visit. I wonder if our skunks are more cautious than the ones on the

> east coast.

>

> Yours truly,

>

> Gary Bletsch

>

> On Saturday, December 5, 2020, 11:00:00 AM PST, pond at whidbey.com <

> pond at whidbey.com> wrote:

>

>

>

> I’ve been meaning to ask for comments on this and am just getting to it.

>

>

>

> This summer a took a road-killed fawn I saw along the road to my property

> and set up two game cameras to capture our local coyotes enjoying it. But

> they were spooked by the cameras and after a month, with only skin and

> bones left, I took the cameras down. That night the coyotes scattered the

> hide and bones all over the place and along their trail. Later I started

> going through the photos – way too many photos. I captured deer avoiding

> then sniffing the carcass, rabbits, cats, a rat etc. I ran out of time and

> set the cards aside. Later this autumn, before deleting the files, I

> decided to just randomly check more of the shots quickly and fortunately

> saw that I had captured a Great Horned Owl exploring and tugging at the

> carcass. I didn’t know they would scavenge. Any thoughts?

>

>

>

> A couple of photos and two short videos here:

> https://www.flickr.com/gp/72752646@N04/X5701N

>

>

>

> Thanks,

>

>

>

> Sego Jackson, Whidbey Island

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