Alice the Great Horned Owl is a permanently injured owl who works at the Houston Nature Center in Houston, MN and lives with her handler, Karla Bloem. Rusty and Iris are Great Horned Owls that are both blind in their right eyes and cannot live in the wild. Rusty and Iris are breeding in captivity as part of Karla's vocal study on Great Horned Owls. All together they have led to the creation of an International Owl Center in Houston, MN and an International Festival of Owls.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Patrick's Amazing Rat Catch
The rats are winning again. Just when I thought we had everything sealed up so none of them could hide from the owlets, they got UNDER the baseboard for the walls. They still can't get out since there is wire mesh buried two feet down into the ground attached to the outside of the baseboard, but they can hide nicely from the owlets.
I put out a pile of sunflower seeds to lure the rats out of their hole. It worked beautifully, but the clock in the owlets' stomachs said morning isn't the time to eat. So the owlets just sat and watched the rats. Argghhh!
I happened to peek in and noticed an owlet hanging on the wire by the food tray. Then it bit at the wire. I thought it must have gotten stuck somehow and immediately started thinking about how fast I could get home to get it unstuck.
Then I noticed a rat on the other side of the wire, in the owlet's talons! The owlet was trying to grab the rat with its beak to pull it through. Eventually it succeeded!
When I got home I reviewed the video and found that it was our amazing Patrick that made the catch. Why he went for such a hard catch while totally ignoring the rats on the floor in front of him is beyond me. Maybe he just wanted to show off to his sisters.
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This young one has everything it takes to become a fierce male GHO. Sorry for the rat...but wow...Patrick, you amaze me!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely looks like he knows what he is doing and will develop into a skilled and determined hunter. I wonder if the females choose males who demonstrate good hunting skills in addition to a good hoot. They do depend on them to provide all the food while they are incubating and in the first couple of weeks after the hatch.
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