Astonishing (but Natural) Disappearance

Early one morning last week, I came out of the house to get the morning newspaper and immediately smelled a skunk. Skunks are often roadkill victims or prey for Great Horned Owls in my neighborhood, so I didn't give the odor much thought. On my way to the curb, I saw the source of the odor, lying dead alongside the driveway and--just out of the corner of my eye--a Great Horned Owl swooping off into the woods next door.

Then, about a half hour later, on my way out the door en route to work, I noticed that the skunk (and odor) had disappeared. Had I dreamt or imagined the whole thing? (Key some X-Factor theme music...)

About three days later, I was working in a brushy part of the yard and came across the tableau pictured in the image above. The skunk carcass had reappeared, this time accompanied by a huge owl pellet full of skunk hair. Mystery solved.

Great Horned Owl Rescue

My wife and I went walking in our local natural area preserve last Friday evening after work. As we were walking along a trail paralleling the main watercourse in the preserve, we passed two women who enthused, "There's an owl sitting on the bank of the creek just around the corner!" Naturally, I was excited about the possibility of seeing an owl up close, but also approached with trepidation because, of course, owls shouldn't be sitting on the ground. I hoped against hope that the owl had just made a kill, but when I saw the bird I saw that it was not sitting on a rodent or a rabbit.

The owl was across the creek, and the creek was too wide and deep to wade, so I made a long detour to a bridge, crossed the creek, and backtracked to the owl's location. When I finally approached, the bird went into a defensive posture--puffing up, hissing, and clacking its beak, but it didn't fly. A bad sign. So, I called the preserve headquarters and, luckily, a staff member and a wildlife biologist were working late on a research project that evening. They quickly came down to the stream to rescue the owl.

The biologist threw his jacket over the bird and then held it tightly to avoid the talons. The owl bit him several times, but he told me that owls' beaks are actually pretty weak--the feet are the business part. He examined the bird visually and manually and declared it looked healthy and he didn't detect any broken bones. However, to play it safe, he decided to take the bird to a local rehab center.

Fast forward two days... The rehab center staff suggested that the owl had probably ingested poison, probably a poisoned rodent. They said that the owl likely would respond well to rehab, but that full recovery might require up to three months.

In any case, the owl wouldn't have survived long on the ground. Our good deed for the day.