Apparently it is time
for the fall migration of the mice to the pantry. We’ve caught 11 so far and I’m sure there are plenty to follow.
I put them outside on the driveway where the owl makes short work of them- I never heard of an owl eating anything dead but this one has. I thought about trying to teach the owl to grab them out of my hand but the idea of a 5′ wingspan raptor that can pick up a rabbit with those talons gave me pause.
You are going about this all wrong. Give the Owl a spare key and a nice perch in your pantry and eliminate the middle man.
Raptors are opportunistic feeders and will eat carrion if it is available. It’s the main diet of captive birds at raptor centers; birds being rehabilitated after injury are re-trained with live prey after they heal, however.
It’s even possible for confirmed carrion feeders like vultures to go after live prey on occasion, as I’ve had them try to nip chunks off of my legs before I learned not to wear shorts around them.
I’m happy to feed him, I’m a huge fan of owls.
I’ll bring you a cat. I ahve one that does not kill them, just tortures them with play. ANd tossing them up in the air for hours.
your dog will get an education too…..
Just say the word.
A few weeks back we had a mouse catch its hind leg in a trap — my poor godmother found it in the middle of the garage, dragging the trap around after it. She put it in a garbage can for me to deal with; I shook the can as hard as I could to stun it, then crushed it with the top of a hammer. I like to think it didn’t feel anything past the first second or two of the procedure.
I would’ve given it to the cat to play with, but I wasn’t feeling cruel.
Mr B: The word is “no”. I have had enough cat to last me the balance of my life.
My cat can hardly wait. I caught him twice looking in all the usual places, but there is not sign of a single one.
It is possible our late vagabond “kitten” cleaned out every mouse in the local vicinity while he hung around the last year. I think I mentioned that he never seemed to stop eating, and only increased in weight from 7 to 10 pounds in that year.
Two days ago wife and I saw a red tail hawk perched on our wood fence looking into the bushes right below the fence.
It walked back and forth on the fence for ten minutes still looking down at the bushes.
Finally it lost patience and flew down to the ground, walked into the bushes, and returned to the fence about 45 seconds later with a mouse, which it proceeded to eat while still on the fence.
Never saw one just walk into the bottom of a clump of bushes for his prey.
My great uncle used to feed undersize salmon he had dragged to death on his line to the local bald eagles. He would whistle, the eagles would swoop in to circle his boat, and he would toss the fish into the air for the eagles to catch. Most of the time, I am told, the fish never hit the water. He passed more than 30 years ago, and I never saw him do it personally, but his former neighbors still talk about it.