Yesterday and today I've had one or two Great Gray Owls hanging around my backyard. This or these birds are quite different from the unhealthy-appearing individual that was here on Christmas Eve, which was browner. This one (or maybe two different ones) has had an amazing effect--my feeders are suddenly devoid of squirrels--and people who came here to see the hummingbird just about all noticed how very many squirrels feed in my yard. Yesterday when the Great Gray sat in an aspen tree, a squirrel on the trunk apparently felt trapped--it seemed reluctant to go on the ground, where the owl might drop in on him, but couldn't go up because that would put him in reach of the talons. So he stayed on the trunk, chattering, for at least 15 minutes. He got away when some crows started divebombing the owl and it flew off. I did see it drop down at least once trying to get a squirrel who got away, but don't know if it's had success at that. Great Gray Owl feet are small compared to Great Horned Owls, but their claws are huge and they could dispatch an unwary squirrel.
This is not typical habitat for a Great Gray, and my neighborhood birds, having no experience with dealing with such a thing, have all been acting unusual--staying away from the feeders altogether when it's about, mobbing it, and being more skittish in general. I saw my first cardinal, Blue Jay, and Pine Grosbeaks yesterday when they were mobbing it. And the funniest thing is seeing a dozen chickadees swarming about its head, looking all the tinier in comparison. Laura Erickson Duluth, MN Producer, "For the Birds" radio program <http://www.lauraerickson.com/> There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson
