Hi, Tweetsters,

I'm throwing this out to the tweeter population at large, because 1. I'm not
an owler (early to bed is my motto) and 2., I can't figure out what I heard
last night.
My husband and I live in Littlerock. THis is prairie area, though there are
several large Douglas firs in the area. By no means, however, can they be
termed "forest", "grove" or "old growth".
Last night at about 9 pm, we were outside, looking at the stars, when we heard
what I thought was the scream of a rabbit. The sound was three, long drawn out
wails, at a high pitch. Moments later, the same sounds, same number came
again,about 500 to 700 feet from the original point of sound. The sounds came
from the tree line lining the gravel pit behind my house. We didn't hear them
again. Here come the questions. I can't possibly believe that a rabbit could
travel that far that fast, nor could a coyote go that fast carrying a
screaming rabbit. We didn't see anything, nor hear any sounds....and it was
quiet as a tomb at the time.
The only thing we could think of was owls.
Can an owl carry a rabbit? Do owls carry their prey long distances? Or, even
more intriguing..I listened to my Peterson CD-ROM sector on owls. The only
thing that even came close to the sound we heard was that of the spotted owl,
not it's hooting but it's "crying". I thought spotted owls lived only in old
growth, heavy forest. Do they travel around, live in second growth, etc? Could
we possibly have heard a spotted owl?
Thanks, all.
Michelle