Lots of beautiful flowers and cool bugs so for my first post I thought I'd try something a little different.
I believe this is a pellet left by a resident screech owl. At least the pellet was found close to his perch.
What's interesting to me is the quantity of crawfish (there are a lot crawfish in the ditch under his perch). The snake makes sense but I'd have never thought of a screech owl as a crawfish catcher. Any thoughts appreciated.
Click the image for a full size version if you want to look closer for evidence.. (-:}
D90, vintage 55mm micro Nikkor at F11, 1/180s, ISO 200, R1 flash.
Last edited by Arlon Motsch; 08-24-2009 at 09:12 PM.
Hmmm! Interesting to say the least. Not sure what you are looking for in the way of a response. Seems to me to be more of a nature study post than an image to be critiqued. As such it might also be appropriate in the
"Avian: Identification, Behavior and Nomenclature" forum. Just a thought.
Much more interested in what anyone thinks about the possibility of the screech owls eating crawfish Than
As to which forum, I just saw macro and since I used a macro lens, that's where I posted it. Hopefully I'll get better at figuring our where things go..
Yes, this would be the correct forum for this post, but sorry, I can give you no info on your question. Owls are not a bird, I see often. good luck with your quest.
I have heard of Barred Owls fishing for and eating crawfish so I can believe a screech-owl doing it. First I have heard of that species doing it but we don't have them in Maine so I wouldn't know anyways. Very cool documentation of this behavior! Thanks for sharing
I Just can't think of anything else that would produce such an "artifact".. We have verious herons in the area and a variety of varmits but none I can think of would leave skat like this. So far I have to claim a crawfish eating screech owl lives in my oak tree.
From OwlPages.com
"Owls can adapt their hunting techniques depending on the type of prey. Insects and small birds may be snatched in mid air, sometimes after being flushed from the cover of trees or bushes by the Owl.
Owls that catch fish may skim over water, snatching fish on the fly (Pel's Fishing Owl) or, the may perch at the water's edge, grabbing any fish or crayfish that surfaces nearby (Blakiston's Fish Owl). Other species may wade into the water to chase fish, water snakes, crayfish or frogs." http://www.owlpages.com/articles.php...ogy&title=Food