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.

NATURE'S CLEANUP CREW

WARNING -- this post contains nature in the raw with some gruesome, but interesting pictures.  Stop with the bald eagle below if you are sensitive to witnessing animals eating other animals.

Bald eagle lunches on the deer carcass, January 9, 2022

 

THE BEGINNING:

Saturday morning, January 8, 2022, we were sitting on our porch (as we do almost every morning), watching the birds at the feeder and looking out to see what might be on the pond.  Linda spotted something red on the ice right in front of us, but behind some trees.  We moved a bit and looked more closely and it was a deer carcass that was partially eaten.  Amazing what goes on in the night or when we are sequestered in our houses!

Later that morning, we walked down the hill to the pond to see what the carcass was - we thought it was a deer, but we were not sure.  It was a deer, a doe.  

 

You can see above that part of the carcass is under water.  There was ice on the pond, but it wasn't solid and it appeared that the doe had gone onto the ice and broken through (out of the picture on the right) and then dragged herself out of the water to end up here.  We don't know if she went onto the ice on her own or if the predator (coyotes?) chased her onto the weak ice intentionally.  We also don't know if she drowned and the predator found the carcass or if they attacked when she came up. 

We had seen an injured doe hobbling down the path a few days before - her right rear leg was broken off about 6 inches above the hoof and dangling by sinews.  Poor thing - it didn't look like a fresh injury and she was getting around pretty well, but she was slow.

When we saw the carcass on the ice, we were hoping it was the injured doe. Later, when more parts were dragged out of the water, we accounted for four intact legs, so it was not her.

Deer carcass - a doe

You can't see it in the picture above because the carcass is shadowed, but the middle of the doe is gone.  We wondered if she was pregnant and the coyotes (again, we are assuming coyotes) zeroed in on the fetus.  There is an organ of some sort on the left side of the picture.

 

 

SUNDAY, January 9 

The carcass has been providing more food for what we are assuming are the coyotes.  Several critters seem to have broken through the thin ice on their way to or from the carcass.  Interestingly, we did not see ANY squirrels in our yard at all yesterday!  And very few birds.  They must have sensed the danger and gone elsewhere.

It is this day, Sunday, that the bald eagle stopped by for lunch.  After the eagle left, the crows ventured in and chowed down most of the day.  

 

 

MONDAY, January 10  

The carcass was dragged in closer to our landing, possibly because the ice was weak?  The head and ribs were separated from the rest of the carcass and dragged up onto the shore.  Amazingly, already there isn't much meat left!! Below shows what we found on Monday, still on the ice.  

The original kill site can be seen upper left side, under the right-most red leaves hanging down - the stick is pointing at the area and the ice is a different color. It is a small area and there is a lump of something left behind. 

You can see where the deer first broke through the ice if you follow the path from the lower right corner (near the carcass) toward the open water - there is a round spot just to the right of the kill site and that is where we think she first went in.

(two hooves upper left, spine lower right)

What is left of the main body of the carcass was dragged quite a distance!

The ribs and head were still attached and dragged up to the shore path.  This is one of the hardest pictures to look at because the head is still intact...   Canine footprints are visible all around it.  Coyotes woke us up in the middle of the night.

(Picture below - scroll fast if you get queasy easily!)

 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 11 

The head and ribs are gone - taken home to the den?  Snowed a dusting overnight and there are bird prints all around the carcass part still on the pond, as many crows lunched on what is left of the carcass. I followed the canine footprints along the path for a ways, but didn't see any sign of a den or even of dragging the ribs/head.  Must have happened before the snow.

We hear coyotes again - 8:30 PM.  

 

 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12 

Clear and quite cold - snow is gone from the pond and the carcass is still on the ice in pretty much the same place as yesterday.  We are wondering if it will stay there until the ice melts (not today!  COLD.  1.2˚ F!

Last night we not only heard the coyotes, but saw canine shaped shadowed figures at the carcass site (~11 PM).  They were behind the canoes, so the sighting was not clear.

 

Below was seen on the ground at the landing - a bit of pelt and chunks of fur.

 

 

THURSDAY, JANUARY 13 

What is left of the carcass is still on the ice, but the parts are more separated.

Again we see canine shapes behind the canoes at around 7PM - moon is high and almost full this week and helps us see some.  Coyotes howling at both 8:00PM-ish and again at 12 AM

 

 

 

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14

This morning things were moved around again.  There was one leg and hoof near the landing and a bit further on, the spine (which was pretty picked over!). 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15

Things are pretty much as they were yesterday.  Slight change in positions, but otherwise as is.  We are wondering if it will stay like this?

Below is the place on the ice where the carcass was before the parts were dragged up onto the shore.

No coyotes howling last night.

We are surprised that the leg is still here!  We expected it to be dragged home!  In spite of the bone looking pretty clean in places, there is still good meat on this leg under that fur!

 

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16

The spine is gone, but the leg is still there.  (Chilly today! -2.5˚F)

MONDAY, JANUARY 17 

Snow in the morning followed by HEAVY rain, sleet, freezing rain most of the day.  We did not venture down the slope and no coyotes were howling.

 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 18

EVERYTHING IS GONE!!!!  Leg, spine, rib cage & head, torso, entrails.  The only thing left to show that there was ever anything going on here is a bit of fur.  One of the pelts is gone, too!  We looked on the ice and under the ice on shore (it was very warm and heavy rain water pouring down the hill yesterday) but not a trace.

Nature's clean up crew has taken care of things again, and in the process, many birds and animals are fed.

Amazing week...