I found a Great Horned Owl nest, in college. Over the weeks, on the ground underneath, I found Great Blue Heron feathers & Red Tail Hawk feathers, among the many rabbit tails. It was pretty amazing!
WHOA! a WHOLE BARRED OWL?! That's insane! what I wouldn't give to see that fight (or assassination)!!!! Though I can't help but feel sad for that barred owl's mate (and possible chicks? I'm not certain of their nesting cycle)! Such is the circle of life
@@num1hendrickfan I question your conclusion because the GHOW has been known to kill red-tailed hawks and even eagles on occasion. At night or even dusk or dawn the GHOW has an advantage over the diurnal hawks. And the GHOW could easily overpower the smaller barred owl. Their advantage is the element of surprise and aggressive behavior. That may have a young inexperienced barred, but it clearly has adult plumage.
@@num1hendrickfan they can definitely take on an adult barred owl. By 4 months old they’re full grown and won’t grow anymore. It might have been a first or second year inexperienced barred owl though. Horned owls take down cats, skunks and porcupines. There’s not much that they fear.
GHO, like eagles, are apex predators (top of the avian food chain). I found a large red tailed hawk (pile of feathers and head only) in my woods. Not sure what got it, but we have owls and bald eagles.
Thanks for your comment. It's been documented that Great Horned Owls will eat other species of adult and young owls and raptors if given the chance. Great Horned Owls pose the most serious threat as predators of adult Barred Owls. In woodlands where both species exist, Barred Owls are known to shift their territories to avoid encounters with Great Horned Owls.
@@CornellBirdCams Thank you, Cornell!! The other night, I heard the call of a Great Horned Owl again in my neighborhood after 2 years. Hopefully, I will hear it again. This information has given me even more fascination with my favorite species of raptors. Hoo-h'HOO-hoo-hoo!!
There actually isn't that much to a barred owl. Lots of feathers, little meat. Less than two pounds for a male/less than 2.5 for a female. And that includes the skeleton, feet and other parts unlikely to be eaten.
When I first saw this carnage, it was from the nest cam. I saw an owl sitting there and my immediate reaction was that it was the male sitting among the nest carnage of his little one and female. She had already been attacked by the a red tailed hawk prior. I was quite upset! I found the twitter feed where I learned that the nest was fine, the prey...not so much. Whether a male/female barred owl, it is devastating to their nest. The male does most of the hunting while the female incubates/broods during chilly spring temps. Of course for any watching the Barred Owl cam, as I have for several years, we see our favorite songbird feathers strewn about the predator pantry. But it is predation for survival, not for fun. Accordingly as we watch we bear witness to the natural cycle. Please consider donating to Cornell for the work that they do to bring us these feeds and provide us with high quality information on their website for all the birds that we research and welcome into our back yards.
@@MIsTLaNd2 I spied her on a top branch on another cam when I thought the little seemed alone quite a bit. The camera field of view more narrow than the mom's watchful eye. She's a wonderful mom...I don't think I've seen the male deliver any food. My sporadic view of the Barred Owl Cam at least catches the male bringing food. Admittedly I'm just popping in and watching for less than a minute...but I catch the male BO delivering...the GHO, NOT!
oh my gosh!!! owl eating another owl....😮. when i check in and saw those feathers I was thinking that it was a barred owl but I just didn't know what to think. unbelievable😳😳
@@deblewis8374 Well that is doubtful imo. Because I don't initiate the call to the barred owl. They always call first and simply respond though I haven't done it in years since I did live in their habitat anymore.
I assume Mom needed to find food quickly because she was away from the nest and her owlet for over 15 hours before she found this prey for dinner. This is nature.
@@mixtaperadio It may not be so much about preying on the owl or its chick as it is demonstrating some aggressive behavior against the owl for territorial or other reasons. A red-tailed hawk has twice flown through hitting this GHOW in the head. Not predatory but about territorial. Or, Hawks and eagles and GHOW's don't get along each either so that is a factor.
@@remyogun8270 iirc, snowy owls are actually one of the closest relatives of the great horned owls and share more similarities than ppl realize, so this doesn't surprise me too much
Almost 3 days no food for the little guy. Also he was alone for almost 24hrs. Gail force winds solo and starving. I thought he was done for. Ma was so hungry she could barely offer anything up while she was eating that night. It wasn't till next morning she feed the little guy only after he snatches from her mouth. Survival. I don't think mama wanted it to come to that. But it did. She had to.
Your melodramatic comment indicates you don't know much about the frequency a GHOW chick feeds or how long it can go without food. The can go a few days with food because when they are fed they eat quite a bit and it takes a while to digest. Owls like most birds are extremely resilient. The older it gets the longer it can tolerate being without food.
thought it was a hawk of some kind when I first saw all those striped wing feathers. The feet looked 'predator like' too Wow. Wonder if this happens with golden eagles during nesting season too. The crow escort with the squirrel this am was neat. 3-15 just at dawn.
I’ve been googling what those feathers are for two days, I was leaning more towards a red hawk because of the striped markings but then for sure could be a barred owl. You all know better than me, definitely an amazing catch and I hope it didn’t have babies in a nest🥲
I said I WAS” leaning at FIRST then after it tore up feathers it looked barred owl. I didn’t say red tail hawk either. Red and gray hawks do have similar black and white striped feathers. Everyone always has to go in attack mode over comments. 🙄
I'm lucky enough to have both GH Owls and Barred Owls on my property. As well as Red Shouldered Hawks and Coopers Hawks. Finally, there's a pair of Red-Tailed Hawks that have their territory over my property. I've always been surprised that all of these raptors live essentially in the same ~30 acre area. I guess more than enough prey around makes them not really care about each other.
Nah, those are undeniably barred owl markings, both in color and patterning. For one, the cooper's hawk's body would have been much more slender and with darker colorations.
For the GHOW?? Since we never saw how much of a fight occured before the great horned took it down it is presumptuous to guess such things! At any rate there the GHOW is probably the most aggressive bird in the air in North America and will take on anything within reason.
@@emilysimon9726 I understand better what you're saying. The GHOW will kill and eat a huge variety of animals. If it can catch and kill it then eating it is a foregone conclusion. And GHOW's do not dismember their prey anyway. The more laborious process is plucking the feathers to get to the skin before they can eat and feed their young.
Why would you post this??!?! I know this is "Nature" but for F sake why throw it in our face? This is sad.. It is nature and so forth but WHY POST this sadness?
@Zerinah I think you answered your own question as to why post this. It's nature, and we get an insight into the lives of these Great Horned Owls currently occupying this nest site. Part of that insight into their lives includes watching the pair mate, raise young, and seeing whatever prey that consists as part of their diets. Most of the time it's smaller rodents, skunks, other birds. Sometimes a hawk or other owl. Hawks and other owls do the same, these are Apex predators.
I saw a parent GHO eat it's owlet after it fell from the nest and died in freezing temperatures, they don't discriminate when it comes to food. This is nature.
It is your choice to watch or not - nature happens whether we like it or not & decide to watch it or not. Humans do much worse things to other humans because they actually know better - an owl only knows if it does not feed it's young they will die ... Much that is wrong with the world is denying objective reality - here we have objective reality as it applies to the natural world of the Barred Owl.
