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Message: [QUOTE="corgi, post: 423238"] I live in Mecosta county Mi. [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/R0oTQy4h.png[/IMG] This pic was from last year where she gave me many opportunities to take pics of her. I have a few hundred. We even watched her drown a muskrat and fly back to the hollowed out tree where she has her nest. They are normally nocturnal, but with mouths to feed back at the nest she was showing up a couple hours before dark. We avoided the hollowed out tree area where she nested which is about 60 yards into the woods from the pond. We did not want to disturb them. It sounded like two owlets waiting back at the nest from the noise they were making while she was perched overlooking the pond waiting for dinner. I watched her viewing squirrels, a few different birds, and a rabbit. I thought she would go for the rabbit, but no. Finally she flew down and landed on a muskrat. Fantastic, as that is one of the critters that was making a mess of the pond. I had trapped 15 of them out of the pond the year prior. Last year when she did what I was hoping and made the muskrat her choice. I only caught 2 in traps all season. Thank you nature for the balance. Barred Owl [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/FU3t40qh.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/fQdm0x1h.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/UOKbrbeh.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/JKr4xUWh.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/zkjWQMGh.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/sPy7nXCh.jpg[/IMG] Here she is just holding down the muskrat next to the edge of the water. The mallard was curious and wanted to see what the commotion was. Stupid auto focus. She got the job done before auto-focus kicked in. She flew back to the nest with it with no effort on her part. I would bet that the muskrat weighed more than she does. I also watched this same owl do a snatch and grab technique for a bass about a foot long. She was not nearly as graceful as the Eagles we've seen doing the same at our pond. When the owl did this in the deeper part of the pond, she had both wings in the water and it looked like she might go swimming. She was successful, but I think her technique for this type of grab with the talons needs perfecting. Eagles grab them and hardly disturb the water when they grab one. We've watched the eagle grabbing bass that are about 15 inches long. One of these days, I'm going to get some shots of that Eagle perched over our pond. The least she can do for all of the fish she is taking, would be to let me take some pics of her. At least she is leaving the hybrid bluegills and perch alone, picking on the bass instead. [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/aeKFtWvh.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/jG7n3Vlh.jpg[/IMG] [/QUOTE]

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