This morning I ran into something that I thought I would share with the forum here. Ran into rabbit fur hiking. Not unusual in itself, but then I noticed the feathers mixed in with the fur. Finally I saw it; a barn owl head laying on the ground like the whole bird had been buried there with just its head showing. It's eyes were open and it looked quite peaceful. When I investigated further I also found coyote (or dog) footprints. It seems like the owl was in the right place at the wrong time and had made a rabbit kill, but then lost the kill and its life to the coyotes (seemed like at least 2...). What do you all think? I've never seen an owl preyed upon by coyote (or dog) before.

That seems like a very reasonable surmise. I can't think of any scenario that would fit the evidence better. It's not often you run into something that dramatic, with such a complex story to tell.

Wow, the antithesis of a Disney movie. Don't know how else you'd translate it; I suspect you're right about what happened--wrong place, wrong time for the owl. Perhaps the coyote was stalking the same rabbit? More typically I'd expect the owl to see the coyote and simply leave.

Neighbors found a dead pigeon in their backyard and not too far away, a dead hawk. As best as they could figure, the hawk hit a wire while attacking the pigeon and broke its neck.

Yea Rick, it seems like it is actually pretty hard to read what actually happened. Maybe the owl knew about the coyote and was hoping to strike first when the coyote flushed the rabbit. With the wind and rain, most traces of this were already gone when I went by the same spot today.



I'm not sure about that...ever seen Bambi? My kids used to joke that in the typical Disney animation, the mom always dies or is already dead.

I was down by the White Mountains coming out after hiking up to the top two days in a row, feeling chilled, so instead of staying at the lab/camp, I came down to the campground and all along and in the road for a hundred yard long section were owls and Jack Rabbits. Strange.
Duane