TWO HAWKS, A FOX AND THE GREAT HORNED OWL

Two Hawks, a Fox and the Great Horned Owl…  This interesting wildlife report is a collaboration between us and our next door neighbors. We took what was seen by each household and put together the story of this vivid example of what our neighbor called,  "The 'Food Chain' law that rules the planet". 

About 9AM, here at our house, we were watching a Great Horned Owl who was about halfway down the hill toward the pond, maybe 50 feet away!  The owl was on the ground and seemed to be trying to grab some prey. 

Now, let’s go to the story next door. From their porch at about the same time, they noticed two hawks in some kind of altercation on their hill heading down toward the pond. Meanwhile there was a fox in their front yard, getting a drink of water. The fox heard the altercation, and as canines are wont to do, ran toward it! The fox tried to get the squirrel that the hawks were fighting over, but the hawks pecked at the fox and it ran off to look for an easier breakfast. 

Meanwhile, back at our house, we saw the owl suddenly fly off next door! We texted over there to let the neighbors know that there was a Great Horned Owl somewhere in their yard, on the hill heading down to the pond - we didn't see where it landed. 

"Ah, there it is!!" It was sitting on a log between our two houses, eating a squirrel! I guess the hawks decided that the owl was too big to mess with and left their prize. Tough getting a meal around here! 

OK - I hear you saying, "But owls are night-time critters!!  This was day time!"  Not all owls are nocturnal; the barred owl, for example (another owl we have around here) is also diurnal (up in the daytime) as well as nocturnal.  I think the Great Horned we saw (they are nocturnal) was probably feeding chicks and therefore hunting in the morning for herself.

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ONE OF THE WONDERFUL THINGS ABOUT LIVING HERE is that we never know what Mother Nature is going to show us! It isn't always pleasant, but it is always interesting! 

Other wonderful things about our little area is that it is DARK at night -- no street lights, so the wild animals do wander through the yard at night, and during the day. 

A fox passes through our yard almost every morning to see if s/he can get some breakfast. And that will stay true because the area around the pond, the brooks and the wetlands is all protected. What that means is that home owners can't even cut a tree or clean up brush within 100 feet of the water. Within 200 feet, you have to get permission from the Sudbury Conservation Committee to do changes.  The law truly protects the waterways and the wildlife habitat in Sudbury.

Here is a link to "Protecting Sudbury's Wetlands" 
https://sudbury.ma.us/conservation/2019/03/26/about-protecting-sudburys-wetlands/

Wild forever, I hope!!

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OH!  Back to the owl.  I never managed to get a good picture of her (I think it was female as it was quite large and in the GHOWs, as with many raptors, the female is larger than the male).  I was shooting pictures through the window and she was always behind branches.  I didn't want to go out of the house as my presence could scare her away from her meal.  Here are a couple of very fuzzy pictures, but you can kind of see the face.

The photo below is one that I took of a great horned owl several years ago (2015). This owl was also up in the morning and roosting (resting) in a tree down near the pond for well over an hour.  If you look very carefully at the talons on the owl's left foot, you will see a bit of fur left over from the meal!

NEVER A DULL MOMENT HERE!  And we LOVE it wild.