Winter Drama in the Garden
We had a large flock of American Goldfinch feeding actively on seeds of native plants and some birdseed I put out for them this morning until this Barred Owl appeared. They all fled, knowing this owl is a fierce predator. The squirrel in the picture right tried to get the owl to leave, but was unsuccessful. I think the squirrels and songbirds view the garden as one of their feeding territories, and they were cautiously trying to defend it!
Gradually the songbirds came back to feed in the garden as the owl roosted and dozed, but they didn’t want the owl around. A big mixed group of Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatch and goldlfinch joined forces and noisily mobbed the owl, trying to chase it away. The owl is checking them out with one slightly opened eye, but the mobbing didn’t work.
Gradually the songbirds, Including this uncommon White-throated Sparrow, resumed their feeding and ignored the owl. After some time I caught the owl diving into the snow out of the corner of my eye, but couldn’t see if it caught anything. A nice morning’s drama in the winter garden!
