The squirrel is all gangsta...until those claws get popped. I have never seen an owl out in the daytime like that. What a great experience and thank you for sharing it all with us.
Thats your only daytime owl right there. They can stand 3 feet tall and are about the only animal that actively hunts skunk. Which is why they usually smell like skunk.
@@davegrier523 I have a video on my channel of a barred owl hunting mice under my bird feeder in broad daylight. I learned that they only hunt in daylight during the winter.
Extraordinary...worth every single moment. To have such a magnificent creature enjoying your kind provision of water is enough in itself, but the squirrel & owl interaction is superbly understated yet offers a universe of imaginings
I missed your comment from awhile ago, thank you for watching. It WAS pretty amazing. I think we saw it there on the rail maybe three times. Every year I think they won’t return but they always have so far! I’m hoping to catch some more videos now that I know I can put them on here!
actually the owl realize that the lady is a friend of owls and is a friend of squirrels and so he better be a friend to scrolls too owls are smarter than most people people tend to be too bloodthirsty I'll eat only because they have no choice otherwise else would be vegan or vegetarian unlike humans who have a choice so think about it whose Superior you or the owl elite liberal libetard
@@dustigenes what politics are you triggered snowflake liberal. I'm Independent in case you want to know my politics, I don't know where you get politics from libtard does not make anyone politics. Truly the word lipot triggered you cuz you know if the glove fit
You have a steady hand on the camera. The face of the owl is so expressive. The squirrel probably wanted a sip of water and recognized the owl wasn't leaving it's perch.
I don’t know what I’d do if I saw this sitting in my bird bath! What gorgeous patterns & colored feathers. Just WOW! And a lucky squirrel that didn’t end up being a snack! Thanks for sharing.
Oh my gosh! I have spent years looking at owls but always at a distance. I have witnessed courting, consumating and baby owls. I listen for their calls. Never have been fortunate to see up close. What a wonderful experience! The squirrel is extremely confident or maybe a little 'slow ' or the owl had an earlier meal. Very amusing
so awesome that you provide fresh water like this for WHOever needs it. that owl is magnefique! i bet if the dish was just a wee bit larger we would have full on bath time! the owl is thinking "do you believe this guy??"
I love how the owl looks at you 😃 Gives you a wink 😉 and goes back about its business. And then it looks at you again at the end just 😃 gives you a look like a you’re no threat I’m the boss here. 😂
Agreed. Without the ability to surprise a squirrel, there really isn’t much that can catch one. Definitely not a owl anyways, nothing beats the speed of mammals.
Wow, that owl is one gorgeous creature 😍 ... what a privilege to see him/her up so close! You must have been stunned to look out there and see THAT!! 😄
I think the owl was drinking after a big meal. Clearly the owl wasn’t hungry or it would have pounced. At 5:55 the owl had a look on its face like, “You cray cray”. Lol
How lucky you are! An owl on your balcony, AND to be seen by day, AND on top a squirrel at the same time ... WOW! I wish I could live like this! Lots of warm regards from Berlin Germany 👍🤗🇩🇪
Oh wow! That was tremendous. Reminded me of Beatrix Potter’s wonderful Squirrel Nutkin, who constantly teases old Mr. B (the ancient owl who all other squirrels leave gifts for, if he’ll leave them alone). Your squirrel had such equal daring! 🤎
This is amazing. You are so lucky to witness these moments up close. 😊 Thanks for sharing. That is one brave little squirrel. I love owls. They are so majestic birds.
Owls are awesome. We have observed a nesting pair return year after year to the same tree and raise their brood. The owlets are hilarious when they Bob their heads when you’re watching them. They stay in the area after fledging and are spotted often during the day. There is a wetland area directly behind our house so we see/hear many owls. This encounter with the owl and squirrel could’ve gone sideways real fast!
I loved the way the owl at the end looking into the camera is like amazed the squirrel had the nerve to walk up to him, like Rodney Dangerfield was about to say -" I get no respect, you know?" 🤣😂😅
Fantastic video. Thanks for sharing. I volunteer at a raptor rehab center. Love the owls. They can and sometimes do hunt in the daytime but you’ll see they’re most active at dusk and dawn. If he were hungry, that squirrel would’ve been history, no doubt. Nature is amazing to see yo close. Thanks again!
Wow! Steady hand. What a gorgeous bird. I have one hooting near my house all the time but never see him. Looks like this guy is using the water dish as his own personal spa 🙂
waaaaay back in the 1960's I was one of the first, if not the first, person in the US known to have raised and trained a Great Horned Owl for hunting. First, as several of the comments evidence, most species of owls are not commonly active during the daylight hours. The principal exception being the Snowy Owl which many a crow have made the ultimate mistake of thinking they could freely harass a 'sleeping' owl :) Great Horned owls, and several other species can be relatively *flexible* in their active hours as circumstances such as weather, availability of prey, etc. dictate. My own GH "Goliath" preferred hunting in the evening hours, but easily was convinced to reschedule as her favorite target, ducks, could easily be found in the pre-dawn hours as they roused themselves in the nearby marshes to face the new day. Some trivia you might enjoy, the GH is one of the strongest fliers of all birds and can lift more than its own body weight without distress. They are also tremendous fighters, and have run many a nesting pair of eagles off their nests, and claimed them as their own. They are also quite dangerous, not only due to adult temperament, but the weapons they possess. For instance, their talons can easily penetrate commercial welding guantlets (which can be enormously painful by the way :) Further these talons reside at the ends of surprisingly long legs which gives much more than just the element of surprise as to how far they can reach. My experienced brother was almost literally castrated when a GH he was holding with extended arms, out in front of his body and which was facing the other way, suddenly shot its legs down and backwards into his crotch, just fractions of an inch from his 'goodies'- even so, the wound and amount of blood gushing from his inner thigh was quite impressive. He would NEVER even venture near Goliath, whom was more like a puppy, because of the memory of that previous encounter. Lastly, for those really interested in these birds, their is a substantially larger version known as the Eurasian Eagle Owl, which can be close to 30 percent larger--we're talking 30 inches of "Night Tiger" here:) Now, as to that squirrel...one fortunate /lucky sob lol.
I’ve seen squirrels approach birds of prey like this before. I always wonder why the bird doesn’t try to attack, although it doesn’t have the element of surprise, and I wonder what the squirrel is thinking.
The owl would prefer to swoop down to catch prey - from a standstill and without having a height advantage, the squirrel can easily outmaneuver the owl. They both know this.
No bird would catch a squirrel, without the element of surprise. In the dark, from behind, at speed, is how owls kill their food. This video has been up for a few days now, so the squirrel might already be inside the owl.
Why's he standing in his water dish?!! Is the owl ok? What a beauty!! Squirrels like, "Hey man, what's goin on?!! Other people need to drink from that dish ya know!! You gonna be in there very long?" That squirrel is a brave little soul, lol.
I actually posted the beginning of this video AFTER I did this one. Owl was just on the rail then walked to the dish and got in. The walk is hilarious. The talons were NOT hilarious. They mean business ha
I remember a barred owl roosting in a redbud tree in a neighbor's yard. The bluejays were not pleased. Sometimes I can spot an owl in a tree by listening for bluejays and watching them dive bomb a spot in the branches. It is hard, even in the winter, because owl feathers are a perfect camouflage.
Thanks for putting out the pan of water for the owl. He sure is enjoying soaking his feet. Great video. I love getting pics/video of local wildlife but where I live I have only 1 opossum, 1 raccoon, and 1 skunk. You are very lucky to get to see this beautiful owl. The squirrel is pretty brave but maybe the owl only hunts at night. Daytime is spa time. lol. HUGS
I guarantee you....even if you are in a city....if you went outside and patiently and carefully looked around....especially at sunrise/sunset.....you would see many many more animals around.
@@takecareofyourshoess We have a bay a few miles from us. It has protected wet lands. Sometimes creatures especially flying critters stray this way. but they soon realize that life is better right along the wetlands and shoreline. I saw a blue heron once in a yard. But our sightings are few and far between. HUGS
I can hear a GHO outside my bedroom window on some winter nights. I LOVE the sound! So nice now to have a close up view of what he looks like. Beautiful!
I love it. Owls are like the cats of the bird world. can look at you with those big beautiful golden eyes and make you feel like the most insignificant creature in the world, and then at the same time completely ignore you like you're the most insignificant creature in the world, though, if he REALLYwanted to, he could tear your head off.🦉🦉
Thank you for your lovely comments! I had only put this on RU-vid after my son suggested that it’s a good way to keep a video. My sister told me that I needed to look at the responses. Holy cow. Never knew it would become so well known. My husband is from UK and we had 2 of our kids there. Now in Colorado where this lovely wildlife is at our door. Several negative comments about the vertical have made me feel badly! So your kind words are appreciated. I’ll have to stop reading them, ha. Enjoy your holidays…
@@robincollins3759 Im in the u.k thanks for reply.Oh and the bad comments you should take them with a pinch of salt, they are daft dont take any notice you did good. regards Gary love AND RESPECT from the U.K.
I have read that prey animals can sense when a predator is hunting and when it isn't. Most predators are not like human hunters. They don't hunt for recreation, or for stocking a freezer. They hunt when they are hungry. I've seen entire packs of wolves walk through a herd of elk and the elk pay absolutely no attention to them. It was like the elk knew that these wolves weren't hunting, they were simply passing through. Having said that, I don't understand why people video with their phones in the vertical format. As great as this video is, it would be so much better horizontal. Minor pet peeve!
You are right on the sensing and on the filming. Sharks also behave differently when they are hunting. Orca will kill and not eat. I have to think they are less evolved in the brain. Owls have special wing tips that make them near silent. Very near silent! They flew an Owl over our heads at the zoo. Scary but no sound could be heard from the wings... so cool! This Owl must feel like it's in a day spa!
Northern Pygmy Owls will catch more then they can eat, if hunting is good they will keep hunting and cache the extra away down in the brush and then return later and eat it
So beautiful. My mom loved to tell stories of their pet, horned and screech owls. Growing up on the farm, 1930’s in Saskatchewan. An uncle would steal a egg, each spring. Until one year he got caught, by the owl parents, while up a tree. No more pet owls.
@@robincollins3759 Hi Robin. Not my uncle, this was, 90 odd years ago. She said, he did wear as much protective clothing as he could. But.. he did think he was going to die. Trying to climb down, and defend himself. Each year they called their horned owl, Timmy. They had great fun, catching baby mice, in the hay barn. Up to expeditions, with the cats n dogs, all four girls. A wagon, buckets of water, with a chair, that Timmy stood on. Out to the prairie dog, dens. “Timmy” stayed in the two room, sod house with them. Each fall, Timmy would fly away. Only to return, in the spring, sitting on the barn roof a few times.
The male gray squirrel is asserting dominance in his territory... at his own risk! Luckily for the squirrel, owls use stealth and speed to catch prey, but these are not factors in this encounter.
It's a fox squirrel. They are bigger than a grey squirrel and can weigh up to 1.8lbs. I had never seen one until I moved to Oklahoma. The first one I saw was stretched out and moving on a tree branch out side our second floor balcony. I thought it was a mongoose type critter because it was so darn long from nose to tail tip! My husband thought that was pretty funny. I still will refer to them as mongooses and joke that in 18 years I have never seen a fox cause those fox squirrels eat them. Yep that owl was wet and not interested in eating and the squirrel knew it could use the deck railing to evade a swoop. We once had a great horned owl, who was night hunting, swoop into our covered balcony. It was after one of our cats. We could see and hear it back winging when it realized there was glass sliding doors between it and our cat.
Squirrels are faster than you think. I watched an encounter with the neighbors cat once. The cat was stalking, then the squirrel actually ran towards the cat closing the distance by half. The cat then pursued and the squirrel did a 180 & out ran the cat up a tree. I thought the squirrel was dead for sure.
Love how the owl looks at ya,, it's like what ? What? You out this pan of water here,, why you all like wow,,, oh....... is that a squirrel hey don't move😎👍
Fabulous encounter I just loved the fact the owl continues to sit in his water weighing up this squirrel. Fantastic colours, sadly we do not have this kind of owl over here.
I see that you are in Scotland, that must be awesome over there. Where I live here in Texas we have these owls, in fact I saw one just last night up on a telephone pole. It was massive, definitely one of the larger great horned owls, and it was doing its territorial call every minute or so. I also saw one during a winter storm in February, right in broad daylight. They camouflage incredibly well, and they are indeed very beautiful. Luckily, they are not a rarity, they are the most common owl in the Western Hemisphere.
@@randomname697 You are very lucky seeing such a beautiful bird it really looks fantastic. We rarely get to see our owls normally hearing them, the footage of the Barn owl having a bath on my channel is quite a rare thing to see, I was so pleased my wildlife camera's caught this footage along with most of the other video's on the channel. Yes Scotland is very nice, we are having snow at the moment and high gusty wind has caused a power outage.
@@tmds5352 Oh that is awesome footage, I've never seen an owl taking a bath, haha. Hope you get to see it again. And hopefully your power comes back on, I know that must suck.
@@randomname697 Thank you. It was a great surprise to see the owl taking a bath. I have my signal back now but our power outage is still off... thankfully we are lucky and have a motorhome so have moved out to this while they try to restore the power. Meanwhile its got much colder and snowed more.
i think the squirrel was thirsty and the owl was in its water tray. it wanted a drink and wasn't sure if it was safe to get one with the owl there. an owl on the ground isn't as much a threat as one you don't see to a prey animal. and the wooden fence isn't really allot of ground for a good fight, lots of flight ability for the squirrel if the owl would attack as well as allot of cover with the walls and foliage. is what i think... they might be thinking, if i was the squirrel...LOL
It’s been awhile since I put that on, but thank you! I keep waiting for them to return this year. They have roosted in our backyard cottonwood for over ten years that we know of, but may have been there before. Fingers crossed they come back this year!
Oh wow!! You lucky! The wise ol owl 🦉 very cool 👍🏽 better get him a baby pool😊 he looks so funny in that pan. He likes it so much. Those beautiful feathers!
birds attack with the element of surprise the squirrel obviously sees him, the owl cannot attack like a frogs tongue he knows the squirrel has the upper hand, and the squirrel knows it too!
what a beautiful owl 🦉 i haven’t been able to look at one for so long. thank you :) when the squirrel 🐿 appeared, the owl looked at it like, “you ARE kidding, right?” LOL
What an awesome example of several owl behaviors. One: the myth that they only sleep during the day shows it is just that…they do hunt during the day if necessary but their advantage is at night. Another is: raptors stand in water like she is doing here to sharpen their talons. And that is one lucky squirrel because a GHO’s favorite food is a skunk so a squirrel is no match…but shows she’s not that hungry and doesn’t waste valuable energy chasing a squirrel during daylight. She’ll get her meal later undercover of night.
Wow, this is lovely! Oddly enough I saw the barn owl at my friend’s farm today here in England, first time in 18 months. 3pm so still light. A beautiful creature, white with a dusting of sand, but not as big as your visitor. I think that squirrel was pushing his luck a bit.
I LOVE this so much! The range of expressions on the owl’s face as the (young and obviously inexperienced) squirrel approached was hilarious! Like at 5:47: “Are you serious kid?” 🤣 What a treat to have daylight footage of this beautiful owl! Is that the first time you’ve seen him/her? What state are you in? Thank you for sharing this and Happy Thanksgiving!
I am in Colorado. We’ve had a pair of GHO in a cottonwood tree for many years, the tree is right off of our deck, we walk under them roosting during the day, they have become very used to us. This owl perched in this spot a few times , but hasn’t come back. Once the tree loses its leaves they tend to move on until spring. I have no idea why it changed its habit, but I am so glad that I just happened to have my phone near. It was 8:30
@@robincollins3759 Not many people like us anymore so thank you LOL, I live about 30miles from Harrogate in Halifax, I could of sat there all day watching that owl. truly wonderful, I also check out "Elephantnews" every night on you tube, it has the same effect, Regards, Olly.
I once saw a squirrel walk up to a Redtail Hawk who had just killed another local squirrel. He just sorta walked over to see what was going on. I swear, sometimes they are so smart, sometimes as dumb as a bag of bricks!
