Joke’s on me When I posted these pictures of the owl and raven, I thought the protagonist was a Barred Owl (and made a play on the words barred and bard). I was wrong. Two competent birders assure me that the pictures show a Short-eared Owl, a bird both smaller and rarer than the Barred. I have revised the page (and title).
Yesterday, we watched angry birds.
It started when a Common Raven swooped and dived upon some unseen object among the hummocks in a meadow. It was not possible to tell what attracted the raven’s attention until suddenly a Short-eared Owl burst from the grass, a typical habitat for this species.
Why the raven cared about the owl is unclear, but ravens do make a practice of attacking birds of prey.
Once the owl was airborne, the raven chased it mercilessly, but soon…, well, the pictures tell the story.
The Short-eared Owl took to the air.
The Common Raven gave chase.
Deftly, the owl circled and attacked from above.
The owl now chased the raven.
Although half the weight of the raven, the Short-eared Owl was the victor.
Derek Kite took the three pictures which show both birds (his were better than mine). He has given me permission to use them here.
Are these pictures misleading, or is the Raven that much bigger than the Owl? I’ve always thought of owls as large birds.
Heather, owls come in different sizes depending on the species; some are quite small. The Common Raven is longer, has a greater wingspan, and is about twice the weight of the Short-eard Owl. Only the Great Horned Owl outweighs the raven, but it has a smaller wingspan. Those pictures are telling it as it is.
I knew that there were some small owls, but didn’t realize the Barred (Bard) one was one of them. I’ve only seen a couple of owls – Great Horned and Snowy and they looked larger than a Raven (lengthwise, I didn’t weigh them). Is the Barred Owl larger than a Pussycat?
The body of the Short-eared Owl is less than the typical head-body length of a house cat (38 cm versus 46 cm). Further, the house cat outweighs this owl by a factor of about twelve. Birds, after all, have to keep the weight down so they can fly.
Not if they travel in a pea green boat.
Great pics. I live in Toronto, and this past weekend I to came upon a Barred Owl. If your interested my pics and video of it flying are at: http://frametoframe.ca/photo-essay-barred-owl-sighting-markham-ontario/