I’ve been fortunate enough over the past week to witness a few pretty cool wildlife-preying-on-other-wildlife episodes right on my own property. Yes, pretty cool and, yes, preying. Survival of the fittest, baby.
On Saturday morning, I took advantage of the amazing weather to finally put stain on the steps leading off the porch. While I was working on the steps, a barred owl landed on one of the trees at the edge of the yard and startled a squirrel. The squirrel was in another tree about 10 feet away from the owl and none too happy about the situation. For the next 30 minutes a stand-off ensued where the owl flew to increasing closeness and the squirrel tried to keep the tree in between the two of them.
All the while the squirrel was in a face down position on the tree. I was sympathetic to its plight only in that I thought maybe his legs were getting tired with what looked like a pretty uncomfortable grip. The squirrel started calling for help about 15 minutes into the stand-off. I’m not sure who he was calling–SuperSquirrel?
The owl eventually flew away and the squirrel was able to climb the rest of the way down the tree. Later in the morning I saw the owl return and swoop down but I don’t think he was able to catch whatever he was after. I’m sure the owl was lucky on the third try.
A few days ago, I was changing out the litter box and heard a strange buzzing. A large black fly was pinned to the window pane by a spider. The strange buzzing was the result of the fly’s butt being fastened to a mullion. I told the fly that it shouldn’t have come into the house expecting to live. By the time I finished with the litter box the spider was nearly done with the fly.