Thursday, April 22, 2021

Male Short-eared Owl is on a Hunt - II.


 

In a previous post I wrote that my first encounter with the male Short-eared Owl ended very fast, he took off and flew away but fortunately not so far.














The Owl is alert and tracks with his eyes the sound to lock onto a prey.

 






The Owl strikes towards his prey keeping his head straight and thrusting his sharp claws forward.  The razor sharp claws and the owl's sharp beak quickly pierce the mouse and kill it. 
  







The Owl is holding the dead mouse.   

At this moment I lost track of what happened next.  The Owl with a mouse in his beak disappeared in the grass and then he reappeared again but without mouse. My guess is that he swallowed it whole.







After his meal the Owl finally graced me with his attention but for a very short time and flew away in search of another prey.

Generally, life is good!