Strange evening

[Darryl Sparlin]

My martins are really starting to pour in now. I've
gone from 1 -3,6,8,12 and then up to 20 yesterday.
After they went to roost and settled in for the night
I came in the house. A couple hours later I heard our
little dog out in the garage barking at something and
throwing a fit at something out in the yard. I went out
to see what she was worried about. I could hear a noise
and it sounded much like a goose honking over and over
really loud. I came back in the house and got my big spotlight
and walked out in the yard. To my surprise there was a huge owl
sitting on the power line. I placed the beam right in his eyes and
it flew off towards the woods. So I rigged up the radio and played
loud music throughout the night. I guess I will be on owl patrol now
for the duration of the season. I don't sleep well anyways so it won't
bother me too much

[avesrun]

Hopefully there's plenty of rabbits and other rodent type fodder that the owl is concentrating on. I'd consider leaving the dog on patrol unless it's a real small dog that the owl will have its eyes on as well

[DornCounty]

Darryl,

Unfortunately or fortunately depending upon how you look at it, our area has a lot of owls... Barn, Barred, and Great Horned... It is highly likely that you have at least one nesting within a half mile of your house. Your birds have done well over there years with many owls around. Take every precaution you can, but owl patrol will wear you out.

[KathyF]

Darryl,
Sorry about your owl. Good news is, your area is attractive to a GHO. Bad news is, your area is attractive to a GHO. I couldn't be out there all night to monitor, since I'm not retired, so I put up cages and protection everywhere. Good luck!