Wildlife & Related

I didn't see a thread devoted to wildlife so thought I'd start one.

We have at least one pair of Great Horned Owls that live on our property. Their two offspring are constantly buzzing around. Haven't got a chance to get any pictures yet but working on it. What I did get is the remnants of their dinner. I didn't know what these were but a little time on Google learned me. They're owl pellets. The owl eats little animals whole - bone, skin, fur, everything. They digest what they can and regurgitate the rest in the form of these pellets. These are mostly from a rabbit that was a little slower than the others. For those of you like me, who were ignorant of this sort of thing, I thought it was interesting. I found these at the base of a Ponderosa tree where I've seen the owls perched (Wikipedia):

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This guy meets me at work almost every morning. He hangs out and will actually follow me around. He'll let me get within 5 or 6 feet before he hops away. Often I'll be working on a tank or something and I'll turn around and there he is...as if he's very intrigued by what I'm doing.

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Nice! You can tell a lot about the kind of raptor and what it eats by the size and contents of the pellet. There are people who specialize in analyzing pellets and reconstructing the skeletons of the prey. Great Horned Owl pellets are pretty large, ~2.5--5 inches. I've found pheasant feet and woodrat tails in GHOW pellets.

Recently, I found some medium sized pellets in our wildlife shelter belt. They were likely from either a Cooper's Hawk or a Long-eared Owl, both similar sized birds that had been roosting in those trees.

Small owl pellets are also recognizable. Here are some from a Northern Saw-whet Owl averaging 5/8 to 7/8 inches. I just collected a bunch from the slightly larger Western Screech-owl that measure about 3/4 to 1 1/8 inches. They contain tiny bones of mice, shrews, lizards and grasshopper parts. I frequently see owls and falcons regurgitating pellets, usually one or two pellets per day. It's a major upchuck for them.



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Very interesting information and great pics of the owls! I've never had owls anywhere I've lived so I'm really enjoying seeing them and learning about their habits.

Find out if you have bats in the area and you can build some bat boxes.

Funny...I actually have a bat box. Haven't decided where to put it yet. I don't know enough just yet to put it in a proper place.

One of my favorite pics from the RMNP the other weekend. Just peepin me peepin his girls' butts

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Elk butts, you gotta love 'em. They stand out like flags at 70 yards in thick shrubs and timber, and also at two miles from a distant mountain. And look at those remnant tusks on that spike bull! They are the ivories or bugler teeth prized for jewelry and tools.

Yeah...he's got some fangs, don't he?

Here's one of my favorite pictures that I took up in RMNP.

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Fwiw, there's about 1000 lbs. of high quality boneless, low fat, low cholesterol, hormone-, antibiotic- and gluten-free meat in waffles' picture.

"Free range"...you forgot "free range".

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Approx 400 pound boar in the yard last summer.

Last evening right after dark we went to look for activity at one of the owl boxes in our yard. Here are some photos I snapped. The first is an adult Western Screech-owl bringing food to young at the nest. It looks like a caterpillar or maybe the chrysalis of a moth or butterfly. The four young were softly calling, begging for food from inside the box. There are two photos of an adult leaving the box after feeding the young. This morning I confirmed there are four owl chicks in the box. The male screech-owl was roosting in another box nearby where starlings had been nesting. I suspect the owls fed the starling chicks to their young.

Then I checked the Barn Owl box where American Kestrels are nesting. Kestrels are the smallest American falcon, and the most common. I snapped a quick shot of the male falcon as he hurtled toward me in a dive when I stood 16 feet up on an orchard ladder. Then I took a brief look inside to find three chicks. Fun stuff.


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We had a kestrel nest in the rain gutter of the town house we rented when we lived in Aurora, about four feet to the left of our window. There was so much noise from the nest that I thought for sure there had to be at least four chicks, so imagine my surprise when I was finally able to see that there was only one rambunctious baby! I called him 'Legion' and enjoyed watching him grow up into an adult.

Those of you that have access to owl pellets may be interested to know there is a market for these items. Many high schools and colleges dissect them i biology class, and there is also a niche market for jewelry (mostly earrings) made from the delicate skeletal remains. You'd need to sterilize them first (and that consists of wrapping the pellet in heavy aluminum foil, and placing them in a 325 degree pre-heated oven for 40 minutes, to kill any E. Coli bacteria. If you look on eBay, you'll see that sterilized owl pellets go for $2.00+ each.

Nice pics Hummer. That's really cool. I've never been interested in birds until I moved here. There are so many different species it's amazing. This guy seemed to be interested watching me at work:

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Bailey Guns, that's a beautiful shot of a great bird, the California Quail. Keep up the good work. I've seen them in Idaho and California. The scale pattern on their belly and nape is more ornate than our western slope Gambel's Quail. Here's a pic for comparison. There's one calling right outside the door right now. We're able to see them up close when they come to a tray feeder two feet from the dining room window.

People who live in natural wildland areas like your new place have a great opportunity to see and learn about wildlife. It makes for a rich life. Most city folks never know what they're missing.


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This^^^^^

The minions love seeing and learning about wildlife when they come to visit.

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That second pic of the two quail is fantastic.

You're right about living in an area with abundant wildlife. Neither my wife nor I have any desire to live in town.

Mrs BG spotted this guy today. I had to do some serious acrobatics on the side of hill to get this. I had to climb to a pretty precarious position to get the angle for the photo because he was positioned behind the pine needles and couldn't be clearly seen from any other vantage point. I was about 100 feet away and he was still pretty pissed that I was stalking him. I have to say I love this new camera. It's the best look we've had yet of one of the Great Horned Owls that live on our property:

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Nice shots!

+1 ^

Nice set of hooters

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Originally Posted by TheGrey

We had a kestrel nest in the rain gutter of the town house we rented when we lived in Aurora, about four feet to the left of our window. There was so much noise from the nest that I thought for sure there had to be at least four chicks, so imagine my surprise when I was finally able to see that there was only one rambunctious baby! I called him 'Legion' and enjoyed watching him grow up into an adult.

Those of you that have access to owl pellets may be interested to know there is a market for these items. Many high schools and colleges dissect them i biology class, and there is also a niche market for jewelry (mostly earrings) made from the delicate skeletal remains. You'd need to sterilize them first (and that consists of wrapping the pellet in heavy aluminum foil, and placing them in a 325 degree pre-heated oven for 40 minutes, to kill any E. Coli bacteria. If you look on eBay, you'll see that sterilized owl pellets go for $2.00+ each.

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1 or 2 owls around here have decided to use one of our gutters as their litter box. Every so often, the spouse pulls a rodent skeleton out of it. Lady down the street took them to her students.

This guy moved into the neighborhood a few days ago. Finally got to meet him this morning.

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Hard to tell from the picture. Is that a badger?

Yep, good looking beast too. He was laying on top of spoil getting a tan when I passed him. Stopped and back up to try pic. Was surprised he stuck his head up after jumping down from spoil.

They usually don't stick around for pics.

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Bailey Guns, those are beautiful images of the Great Horned! As you probably know it's a juvenile (hasn't got it's horns on yet).

Badgers are neat critters. I don't see them often. One time I was able to call one to me by mimicking a squeaking mouse or bird. We had one on our farm a few years ago. I think it was working the small prairie dog colony on the property. Pdog numbers crashed about that time.


Here's my contribution today, a recently fledged Northern Saw-whet Owl. It was rescued from an attacking raven by a fellow who brought it in to the office. I determined it was okay and we took him back to the mountains to release him in the same location. The young might make it on his own but would do better reunited with his parents who will continue to feed it for month or so.


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Originally Posted by Hummer

As you probably know it's a juvenile (hasn't got it's horns on yet).

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Didn't know for sure but suspected. Yesterday the two adults and one of the juveniles were hanging out in a ponderosa near the house right around dark. Not sure what they were doing but they were talking up a storm. One of them yacked up a fresh pellet which we quickly retrieved from the ground after they left. I never thought I'd be digging thru the grass after dark looking for bird vomit.

Love the badger, too. I've seen one in the area...playing chicken with me on the road. He really didn't want to move. I hope he wised up a bit or his life expectancy will be short.

Walking down to water the garden I surprised this guy. He was ready to tangle with me and my Terrier. Needless to say the dog wanted a piece of the owl, too. Getting the pictures while trying to control the dog was a little tricky. We backed off and everyone calmed down. The GHO waited long enough to make sure we weren't a threat and flew up into a nearby tree. It's one of the juveniles...I think the one I got the pics of several days ago. I'm guessing he's about 1.5 times as tall as one of the railroad ties he's perched on. Wingspan is probably around 2', maybe a little more.

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Great little bird, BG! You don't need (or want) barn cats when you have resident owls. They'll take mice, pack rats, skunks and other unwanted pests including feral cats.



Here's an adult Swainson's Hawk I caught today. It has a wing injury and is unable to fly. I had to chase him down and he almost outran me. This species migrates to South America for winter, often in large groups of Swainson's. He's probably been to Argentina and back at least once. With luck the vet will be able to repair the wing. It's a beautiful bird!


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I took this several years ago in Estes Park at the Rockmount Cottages where we usually stay, beautiful 7x7 bull.

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Grandson was just a pup then, 19 now.

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A younger bull at E. Park. You can just see the tripod of my video camera at the far right, I was standing there running the video camera, grandson took this photo with his phone.

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A friend of ours that used to volunteer with Hawk Quest. Eagles are damn impressive up close!

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Wow...that eagle is cool. I'd give anything to have a pic like that holding an eagle.

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From the weekend

Really enjoying the photos you guys are posting in this thread.

I don't know much about killdeer except the little I've read about on Wiki. Sometimes they nest, if you can call it a nest, in open, rocky areas. Well, my tank yard at work is certainly open and rocky. This little bird decided to lay her egg (eggs...the day after this was taken there were two) right on the edge of the drive where the tankers come in to reload our bulk tank. Very dangerous spot. The first photo was taken fairly early...maybe 0730 when I saw her frantically running about the yard. I'm thinking she was looking for a place to lay her egg. The other two were taken mid-afternoon when it was about 103 degrees. She was panting a lot. I didn't know birds panted, either.

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Great pics! Killdeer are fascinating little birds. Wait until you see her doing her broken-wing dance to keep you away from her nest.

If it keeps getting that hot, you may want to set out a little dish of water for her. My grandma used to set out the drain pan of a flower pot for the killdeer.

Their babies are some of the cutest little birds you've ever seen. Any way to maybe set some cones out around her nest so the tankers don't run her over?

Camouflage much?

No wonder these owls like the ponderosa pines. Just another pic of one of the two juveniles that live on our property. The second picture is it's sibling. It appears to have some sort of problem with it's left eye. Not sure if it's blind in that eye or not.

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Originally Posted by TheGrey

Great pics! Killdeer are fascinating little birds. Wait until you see her doing her broken-wing dance to keep you away from her nest.

If it keeps getting that hot, you may want to set out a little dish of water for her. My grandma used to set out the drain pan of a flower pot for the killdeer.

Their babies are some of the cutest little birds you've ever seen. Any way to maybe set some cones out around her nest so the tankers don't run her over?

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Yeah, I thought about the water, even though we're only two or three hundred yards from the Snake River she obviously gets very hot on those rocks. And I've placed some blocks around her nest on the edge of the drive in hopes of encouraging the tanker drivers to make a wider turn. I'm really hoping to see the babies. I haven't seen her "Oh, no...look at me. I'm hurt!" dance yet but I'd like to.

Couple of cool finds this evening. I wish I was more comfortable with aperture and shutter settings so I could better compensate for difficult lighting situations. Right now I just leave the camera on "Auto" and hope for the best. Both of these guys were in excess of 75 yards away. I had to zoom all the way in to even see that little hummingbird.

Cedar Waxwing - Mrs BG is sort of a fledgling birder and ID'd this guy as soon as she saw the picture even though she'd never actually seen one.
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Black-Chinned Hummingbird. Never heard of it. Mrs BG ID'd this one, too.
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Here's a humming bird I saved from a job site last summer. It flew in an opening and ended up battering it's self against a window.

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Our house in Bailey had 18' ceilings with skylights. Hummingbirds would get in and try to get thru the skylights. Many required rescue. Good for you for helping the little guy out.