Newsgroups: rec.birds
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jpl-devvax!hastings
From: hastings@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (Sheri Hastings)
Subject: Re: Bird feeding Station
Message-ID: <1991Apr17.163718.27746@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov>
Reply-To: hastings@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Sheri Hastings)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
References: <1991Apr15.225115.3695@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov> <1991Apr16.191709.29728@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU> <1991Apr17.072124.3028@nmt.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1991 16:37:18 GMT

In article <1991Apr17.072124.3028@nmt.edu> john@nmt.edu (John Shipman) writes:

>I've heard that Great Horned Owls regularly catch well-fed suburban
>cats in the wealthy Bay Area suburb of Los Altos Hills.
>
>Another interesting fact about this species of owl is that it is
>*the* major predator of skunks.  Owls don't have much of a sense
>of smell, skunks are a plentiful resource, and both of them are
>nocturnal.  Some museum study skins of Great Horned Owl are still
>quite fragrant after several decades.
>-- 

We have lots of skunks around our house. (My dog has been sprayed twice
already this spring.) Maybe that's why the owls hang around.

I've actually seen them carrying rabbits away. These particular owls are 
pretty bold. Once one swooped down and grabbed a rabbit less than ten
feet from me. It was so fast. I didn't even see it coming. I've also
seen them carrying mice, snakes, and lizards. Do they bother any other birds?
I like to walk at sunset and that is when I usually see these guys (gals? 
how do you tell them apart?) with their prey.

Alas -- my poor dear kitties. (I lost a cat last year. We found the 
skull of something that could have been a cat under the pines where 
these owls hang out.) I think I'll bring the cats in at night. 

Several people have suggested that I put bells on the cats if I am
going to attract birds to the yard.  That seems like a pretty good
idea to me.