Heya Tweets,

A kind of bittersweet time in the old Scott residence today. One of our
friendly birds was taken off our neighbor's feeder by a Northern Pygmy-Owl
(just about the same size as the House Sparrow he/she took). The bird is
beautiful and was seen on the dirt road just north (between the large
apartment complex and Sweet St. and heading East from Main st.) of the
Circle K. on Main St. (I forget the name of the dirt road, even though I
live there...too many finals :) He was present with the bird in his
talons in the large tree at the east side of a small (seemingly) one-story
appartment building (it's actually two, but you wouldn't know it from this
side)... It may have just been a stop-by, so we'll keep our eyes open and
see if he shows up again (and try to give better directions).

Time of observation: 12:24PM Dec. 20 (kill was fresh)
Weather: 1-3 inches of snow on ground, no wind. Temp. probably around 30
degrees.
Probability of identification: 100%

We were returning home from school and passed our neighbor's feeder when a
strange bird flew off the ground nearby with a soft whirr and
went up into a tree a few apartments to the east. We originally thought it
was a flicker, and I began to move quietly towards the tree while my wife
went into the apartment to retrieve the binoculars. I was able to
identify the bird with my naked eyes, and my wife confirmed the ID with
her binoculars.
The bird remained in the area for the duration of observation. We had an
excellent chance to view the bird, his relation in size to his prey (a
female House Sparrow), and observed the characteristic "fake eyes" on the
back of his head. He remained calm during the observation, keeping a view
on the neighborhood; we ended our observations after 3 minutes in order to
allow him to eat in peace. A subsequent search for him (by binoculars
from our front porch---distance 40 feet) turned up nothing, (except the
neighbor's cat). The House Sparrow's body wasn't seen at the base of the
tree, either.

As we type this, a soft hoot-hoot can be heard outside. This may
indicate he's still in the area.

Good Birding!

-Pat
scott931 at uidaho.edu