>Tweeters;
>A duck hunter at work asked me a question I thought I'd forward. He was out
>in the grain fields on the Samish Flats and came across a freshly killed
>Pintail. It was very early in the morning and the duck had a full crop. We
>concluded it was picked off the night before and he wanted to know the
>likely predator. I thought a Great Horned Owl could easily take a duck but
>what about a Short-eared or Snowy? Aren't they both diurnal? I remember Bud
>Anderson telling us that Falcons will hunt at night if they can't hunt
>during the day without getting ripped off by bigger raptors. Any thoughts
>out there in tweeterland?
>
>Tracee Geernaert

Snowy Owls take ducks regularly, especially those incapacitated by hunters
but I'll bet even healthy ones. I was shocked when watching a Snowy Owl
nest on Victoria Island to see the female return with a female King Eider,
which she had just taken from a nearby nest that we had also been watching
(sniff). Great Horned can handle just about anything smaller than itself,
but I doubt very much if a Short-eared would attempt to capture a duck.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
web site: http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html