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Hedra ArticlesFebruary 2010 At minus 4 degrees, as I walked into the open bay of my shop, out flew a young male Barn Owl who had been inside a nest box that I built for the local owls. What a wonderful surprise to see as he escaped out of the south opening. Now the barn cats were not happy at all; one ran like hell, the other a dominant female that I call Cheeto tried to launch herself upwards to attack this owl and to keep her domain safe. The only reason that Cheeto knew to jump vertical is because she and her fellow cats have been attacked by birds of prey over the years that Flight to Freedom, my now closed sanctuary for homeless and abandoned birds of prey, were sheltered and cared for here. Normally this is not something any domesticated cat would know about, yet if a cat survives an attack from any bird of prey, they then become aware of shadows on the ground representing a bird of prey above, looking for an easy meal! The one cat that ran away upon seeing the Barn owl had been attacked by a juvenile red-tailed hawk when he was about 6 months old. The red-tailed hawk swooped down on the male kitten and sunk his talons into his lower back and then proceeded to fly away. Unfortunately, for the hawk and lucky for the kitten, the kitten weighed too much and the red-tailed had to abort his intended kill and the kitten was dropped some 60 feet back to the ground. Because he was still young, he didn’t break any bones and I Reikiied him for over 2 hours to make sure all was well for this male kitten. The only mark on his body is an indentation over his right kidney and his hair coat color changed from black to tan. Unfortunately for me. the young barn owl decided against using my nest box for his mate. I would have loved to have watched a wild pair of barn owls raising their young naturally, just think of the pictures I could have. I know that someday, a bird of prey will find my protected nest box and take it for raising its young and I will delight in watching them grow! “You are all. Free. To do. Whatever. You want. To do.” Richard Bach Diana Lynn Countryman Siderides
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@ Apr 2008 ~ Warm Fuzzy Center ~ All Rights Reserved |
