Owl Attack

Carolina chickadees frequent our feeders, and queue up on the branches above it, waiting their turn.

On the window ledge over our kitchen sink is a sweet little figurine of two black-capped chickadees on a branch. A good friend gave it to me some time ago, and it makes me think of her and smile when I see it.

One morning last week, Don was in the kitchen before light. He'd turned on the light over the sink, put on a pot of coffee, and was looking through some notes, when he heard scratching sounds from the direction of the sink. When he went over to see was it was, he was amazed to see a screech owl trying to attack the chickadee figurine.

The owl's eyes were intently focused on the little figurine, and he flew towards it with his claws outstretched, until they hit the window and slid down the glass. The little birds must have looked like an easy mark, and the owl couldn't understand what was going wrong, because he did this repeatedly until Don's movement scared him away.

This was probably an isolated incident, but we've decided not to take any chances. Now those 2 little helpless buddies get put in a safe place at night, and only back on their perch on the ledge after the night crew has gone home.



Textures by Kim Klassen