Subject: [Tweeters] owls and carrion
Date: Sat Dec 5 22:18:13 PST 2020
From: Will's Email - yekramw at gmail.com

If you want to see Striped Skunks, move to Ellensburg! I have a video from a couple of years ago of our Bernese Mtn Dog puppy at the sliding door, barking at two of them, in daylight, eating the bird seed on the ground in our back yard.

I'd love to send the short video, but I don't have a flicker account, etc. where I can list a link.

We no longer feed birds here. If we go outside at night, it is about (a SWAG) that about 25% of the time we will get a wife of Mephitis mephitis!

Dr. Paulson made me learn that the summer of 1970! (That is at least a year, + or -!)

If you don't know what a SWAG is, contact me privately. I'm not sure I can put a swear word on Twitter.

Will Markey
Cell - 253-569-8455
Sent from my IPhone


> On Dec 5, 2020, at 18:30, Wilson Cady <gorgebirds at juno.com> wrote:

>

> 

> On March 21, 2004 I flushed a Burrowing Owl from the carcass of a road killed Red-tailed Hawk while conducting a survey on the Steigerwald Lake NWR, Clark County. I did not see it actually feeding on the hawk carcass but an examination showed that something had opened the breast.

>

>

> Wilson Cady

> Columbia River Gorge, WA

>

>

> ---------- Original Message ----------

> From: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com>

> To: "pond at whidbey.com" <pond at whidbey.com>

> Cc: Tweeters Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] owls and carrion

> Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2020 01:13:55 +0000 (UTC)

>

>

> Dear Tweeters,

>

> On Christmas Day of 2006, I saw a Northern Pygmy Owl at a carcass. My friend's dog had killed a spotted skunk. This was along the South Skagit Highway, not far east of Day Creek. The dog had been playing with the carcass during the afternoon. By the time I drove down the wooded driveway, it was 1300, and the dog had long since abandoned its toy--and retreated to his doghouse, whence he was banished for several days, for the crime of first-degree stinkiness.

>

> I was not sure if the owl were actually feeding on the dead skunk, but I think it was. Perhaps there were insects drawn to the carcass, and the owl was feeding on them? Probably not.

>

> That was the only time I had ever seen any suggestion of evidence of an owl feeding on carrion.

>

> I still have never seen a live spotted skunk. In fact, I hardly ever see live striped skunks in Washington. Back east, I see skunks just about every time I visit. I wonder if our skunks are more cautious than the ones on the east coast.

>

> Yours truly,

>

> Gary Bletsch

>

> On Saturday, December 5, 2020, 11:00:00 AM PST, pond at whidbey.com <pond at whidbey.com> wrote:

>

>

> I've been meaning to ask for comments on this and am just getting to it.

>

>

>

> This summer a took a road-killed fawn I saw along the road to my property and set up two game cameras to capture our local coyotes enjoying it. But they were spooked by the cameras and after a month, with only skin and bones left, I took the cameras down. That night the coyotes scattered the hide and bones all over the place and along their trail. Later I started going through the photos -; way too many photos. I captured deer avoiding then sniffing the carcass, rabbits, cats, a rat etc. I ran out of time and set the cards aside. Later this autumn, before deleting the files, I decided to just randomly check more of the shots quickly and fortunately saw that I had captured a Great Horned Owl exploring and tugging at the carcass. I didn't know they would scavenge. Any thoughts?

>

>

>

> A couple of photos and two short videos here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/72752646 at N04/X5701N

>

>

>

> Thanks,

>

>

>

> Sego Jackson, Whidbey Island

>

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