Couple thoughts on this topic...
1. My neighbor in Carlton County, Larry Weber has a Barred Owl nest on his land and just a couple weeks ago, Larry witnessed the adults plucking earthworms off the pavement of his road. 2. In a book I published, Owls of the North by David Benson, there is a photo taken by Christian Artuso near Winnipeg of an Eastern Screech Owl flying with an earthworm in its bill. Christian watched it bring it back to the nest, presumable to feed the young. The adults repeated this often. It seems like earthworms would be an available and easy food to feed owlets. Sparky Stensaas 2515 Garthus Road Wrenshall, MN 55797 218.341.3350 cell [email protected] www.ThePhotoNaturalist.com www.SaxZim.org www.StoneRidgePress.com www.KollathStensaas.com > Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2012 07:07:50 -0500 > From: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [mou-net] barred owl diet question > To: [email protected] > > Here are some responses I received to the barred owl eating worms question. > Interesting stuff. I will pass on additional comments if I receive more. > > > > Gail Wieberdink > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > Maybe they are feeding them to their young? Although the owlets should be > old enough by now to eat larger prey... it's just a guess. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > When I took ornithology from Al Grewe at St. Cloud, he mentioned the extent > to which adults teach their offspring to feed, and the variation which > ensued as a result. > > A sort of primitive culture. One individual figures it out, and passes it > to the others. The example he gave was broad winged hawks feeding on frogs. > > > Not normal, but some do. > > > > I spent quite a bit of time a few years ago photographing robins from a > blind. The thing that struck me as strange, was the extent to which the > birds treated night crawlers as though they were dangerous. Pulling them > from the ground, attaching, and then retreating. Only to repeat the > process. To the best of my knowledge, the earthworms we have are all > European, and the robins are in fact treating them as though they are > snakes, which they also feed on. > > > > A little off topic, but it shows the extent to which feeding behavior isn't > always genetic. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
