Fierce Looks Just Like This
Early this afternoon I went to a seminar on birds of prey. The naturalists from the Black Hills Raptor Society brought four birds with them, a red-tailed hawk, a kestrel, a screech owl and a great horned owl. The first three were kind of as I expected them to appear, regal, stately or pick your own words for how they look. The screech owl, all 5 ounces of him, was rather cute. It is the great horned owl that surprised me.
I've heard plenty of them, seen a few at night from some distance as the big owls make virtually no noise when flying, so it's a glimpse in a flashlight beam. I spent so much of my past life studying what makes someone tough or tenacious or a survivor. The great horned owl surpassed all of those. That owl didn't like us people much, it was obvious that he only tolerated the guy holding him (the guy wearing a whole lot of leather protecting his arm) and after hearing that the owl regularly killed 20 pound turkeys and skunks and mice and anything else he felt like eating, I realized I was looking at one of the supreme predators of the animal world. It seems great horned owls have very little, if any, fear of people. If I looked like that owl, I'd fear just about nothing.
Perhaps if we are in a position in life where we need to be tough or we need to survive, we can learn from the instincts of that big owl. One thing the naturalist said was that the owl doesn't back up, if it picks its prey, it attacks, kills and eats it. Job says in one of the verses of the Bible that he is "a brother to dragons and a companion to owls." It seems to me Job was in good company while surviving what Satan was doing to him. I didn't know how good until today. People talk about putting on their "game face" and taking on whatever is bothering them, but they sure do not have the look, no matter how determined they try to appear, as the calm certainty in the amazing eyes of the great horned owl.
Just something to think about. I am glad I'm not a mouse.
John Halverson of the Black Hills Raptor Center with Icarus, a great horned owl.
I've heard plenty of them, seen a few at night from some distance as the big owls make virtually no noise when flying, so it's a glimpse in a flashlight beam. I spent so much of my past life studying what makes someone tough or tenacious or a survivor. The great horned owl surpassed all of those. That owl didn't like us people much, it was obvious that he only tolerated the guy holding him (the guy wearing a whole lot of leather protecting his arm) and after hearing that the owl regularly killed 20 pound turkeys and skunks and mice and anything else he felt like eating, I realized I was looking at one of the supreme predators of the animal world. It seems great horned owls have very little, if any, fear of people. If I looked like that owl, I'd fear just about nothing.
Perhaps if we are in a position in life where we need to be tough or we need to survive, we can learn from the instincts of that big owl. One thing the naturalist said was that the owl doesn't back up, if it picks its prey, it attacks, kills and eats it. Job says in one of the verses of the Bible that he is "a brother to dragons and a companion to owls." It seems to me Job was in good company while surviving what Satan was doing to him. I didn't know how good until today. People talk about putting on their "game face" and taking on whatever is bothering them, but they sure do not have the look, no matter how determined they try to appear, as the calm certainty in the amazing eyes of the great horned owl.
Just something to think about. I am glad I'm not a mouse.
John Halverson of the Black Hills Raptor Center with Icarus, a great horned owl.
Great article, Dave. I find it rather amusing too because lately Jim has had a great horned owl visiting his bait pile and setting off the alert in the house. He will appreciate your story I'm sure!
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Thanks, Beth. I found myself feeling like the little mouse in some Disney (?) cartoon where the mouse had to talk to the owl. The naturalist said the owls would kill turkeys but then only eat the meat off the neck. Ok, that's strange. Then, the owl would leave and coyotes would come in to feast on the rest of the turkey carcass. He also said that great horned owls kill more turkeys here than anything except mountain lions. Amazing stuff.
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William H Macy is a game warden?
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