 While
the squirrel is certainly no threat to June, the same could not be said
for the owlets. It might do serious harm to them if it made such a visit
while June was out, and she responded by sticking very close to the nest
for the rest of the day. They are shown here wheezing excitedly as June
whines from her perch just twenty feet away. This caution prevented her
from hunting today, but Ward again came through with a meadow vole at 9am
and an Eastern Ribbon Snake a couple of hours later. Emmett swallowed the
vole whole, while June forced Ernie to share the snake. He did, however,
manage to get most of it. I expect both adults to hunt again tonight as
the growing appetites of the owlets are now far more than Ward can handle
alone. Ernie usually manages to be in the right place at meal time and is
therefore getting enough food to keep up with the older owlets. |
An owl
is not a very good hunter without the element of surprise on its side.
While June makes short work of critters like this gray squirrel when she
pounces from a hidden perch, it was a different matter when the squirrel
showed up in her doorway this morning. She bounded up and took a swipe at
it with her right foot, but it easily scampered away. Just seconds after
June had settled back in with the owlets, the squirrel made a second run
across the owl rails (shown here) and started to poke its head in the
door. This time June came all the way out and carefully watched the
squirrel until it departed the area before going back into the nest to
comfort the nervous owlets.