This week when I am near the tree the owl is nesting in, I hear the occasional loud sharp chirruping note, “schhheeep!”
The first photo is from three days ago; the second photo yesterday.
I saw her sitting on her nest, and when I looked at the photo I had taken of her, I was unpleasantly surprised to see what was being eaten, or possibly fed to her young.
This is not the first time I have gotten a photo of an owl holding a snake. (I shudder to say the word.) April 19, 2015, in my first weeks of posting to this blog, I got my first such photo. Not the best feeling for a herpetophobe.
Those eyes! I would not mess with her. And I carefully avoided looking beyond the owl, did not want to see any s——e.
I mean, I’m glad I got the photo, but I still shudder at what she’s holding.
And you are right to be cautious: “ The clutching force of their talons can be as strong as 500 psi (which is similar to the bite of a large guard dog and thus great enough to permanently disfigure, blind, or kill). Great horned owls, like most owl species, tend to concentrate on the face and head in battles with larger animals.” -britannica.com