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Last night, 4/14/2012, at midnight, an owl visited the Decorah Bald Eagle nest quite suddenly. Mom and Dad Eagle were not amused, and they reacted with defensive calls and posturing. Everyone in the nest is fine. This is not Mom and Dad’s first owl visit ever; they had owl intruders last year as well. No birds were hurt in any Decorah owl visit so far. Assuming that the owl is a Great Horned Owl, the Bald Eagle outweighs it and has a larger wing span. To attack the “largest true raptor in North America,” the nighttime hunting owl must then, have a good deal of hunting proficiency. The owl has a specific call that is audible on the clip. (first at 03:10 and again later)
Decorah Eagles Owl Intruder at Midnight 4-14-12 11:52pm CDT
Folks, I have just noticed on my site that on this video, I am getting a message that says, “Embedding disabled by request. Please watch on YouTube.”
Here is the link, if you get the same message:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_6M3BHbDcA
Here is a clip from last year’s owl visit:
Decorah Eagle gets attacked by Owl Second night in a row
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWkiiI0fwbw
Also, at the Raptor Resource Blog site is a report of failure of a nest in Colorado, where two babies died of the cold following a storm, as well as a discussion on nest intervention, titled Fort St. Vrain Colorado Bald Eagle Nest Fails. Raptor Resource explains that the nest was very remote and could not be safely accessed.
17 Comments
Pretty certain the eagles would have the upper hand over an owl. Even though owls have very strong talons.
Hawks on the other hand are the best flyers. The can out fly ducks.
Owl versus Eagle is an interesting concept for sure. Eagle has physical upper hand but owl is more aggressive. The babies are vulnerable unless the Eagle parents are really good-the Decorah parents are.
Eagle versus owl:
http://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/eagle_versus_owl
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow C-S, that is really intense. Those eagles are smart and strong but if the owl hit hard and fast, it would be all over for at least one of those chicks.
Thanks for the post. What a twist to what I usually think of as beautiful and sublime footage.
So true. Nighttime Apex Owl hits the daytime Apex Eagle, and man, if that eagle misses a step, the chicks are a done deal. Almost like spy versus spy, both extremely intelligent and proficient as well.
Thank you for stopping by, hotdog, always a pleasure to see you here and in comments elsewhere.
When our African Grey Parrot presents a defensive posture, he puffs every feather to make himself look bigger, and then he sways back and forth, and BANG with the beak, as if to say, “Bring it.” We know he is a male from his sexual behavior, and he loves playing games where he postures like this. For example, he stalks me with this presentation sometimes, so I play peek-a-boo with towel. Feathers puffed to reveal a naked breast bone line is just adorable.
Also, Eleven Birds Who Could Beat the Shit Out of You:
http://amog.com/offbeat/11-birds-beat-shit/
I recently got to see just how efficient owls are when hunting. It was pretty impressive. Over the course of a couple of nights a pair of screech owls completely decimated the squirrel population in our yard. I didn’t actually see much, of course, but I’m pretty sure I know what happened. One night I was grilling some burgers and heard a rustling in a nearby tree. That got the dog and cat’s attention and I saw something run for cover under the grill. Got out the flashlight and saw a squirrel hiding under there. Then I saw an owl sitting on a tree branch. When it flew off, I sensed a second flying too but didn’t see it. Over the course of the next two nights the dog, bless her heart, gifted us three times with headless dead squirrels. Now the dog doesn’t climb trees and the cat couldn’t be bothered, so I’m fairly sure the owls had something to do with it and the dog just happened to either scare the owls who dropped the squirrels or just happened to find the dead bodies and brought them in the house. The first one was so fresh it was still bleeding. At any rate, the squirrel population plummeted over the course of two or three nights.
Now this might seem strange, but I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to witness ma nature in action. How many people would have even noticed? That said, chasing the dog through the house at 3 in the morning, trying to get dead squirrels out of her mouth, isn’t my idea of fun.
“Give me that!”
“Nuh, uh!”
LOL, been there.
LOL, yeah. No doubt. Some farmers love the owls because they keep mice out of fields and barns. My understanding, from talking with my sister, who has these things including the owls, is that the mice are consistently missing from the scenario.
How I love the owls, such magnificent creatures, and so beautiful. Well evolved: eyes as large as ours and set, so they turn their heads…even better hearing and an amazing ability to move silently through the air. Incredible.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing the headless squirrel story, with the dog, too funny.
A friend of mine living on a reservation near Glacier Nat’l park told me a story of a Native American Grandma who shot a snowy owl off a fence post because she considered it a bad omen. Another friend told me the Chinese also consider them bad luck. WTF?
They really are beautiful. I’ve been several times to a performance at a Falknerei at Kloster Lorch in Baden Wurttenburg Germany where they have trained eagles, falcons, hawks and owls. The trainer looks a little like his birds LOL and has a great sense of humor. The falcons would perch on giant oaks 200 meters away and wait to be called. It was amazing.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kloster_Lorch
http://www.stauferfalknerei.de/15.html
Took me a while to find it.
Translated: Lorch Monastery! Beautiful!
And personally, I would not want to kill an owl in cold blood…and wait around for the karma, but that’s just me.
Assuming the owls are feeding a fairly large brood, not sure why they would hunt like that if they weren’t, I’m still waiting for the evening photo op with the whole family. Ingrates :)
I live about an hour and a half from this place that you speak of. Thanks for the insight in an otherwise “random” occurrence…..from what I’ve heard there are a lot of those around here, maybe I’ll make a road trip with my little familia. Danke
Thanks CS for the ongoing incubation of eagle eggs and people’s minds.
re cvd.
Oh!! Thank you!
Thank you chebetts!Only an hour and a half away? Do visit, and write about it sometime!
Very good to see you, thank you for the visit.
For me, it’s just nice to hear the hoot of an owl; ours are gone, and I miss them…a lot. I even learned to hoot well enough that some species would hoot back at me. ;o) (multi-talented singer, I am.)
With all due respect to the eagles and eaglets, of course. It is nature at work, though, no matter how much we’re rooting for the eagle family.
Yes, the owls are magnificent birds, with a lovely voice. These eagle parents are really good, so all will be all right, I believe.
Fascinating stuff, and thank you so much for stopping by!