Let's talk Hoots and Shrews.
 

Sorry, couldn't resist. Yeah, not really sorry.

Check out this bad boy!

https://images.fineartamerica.com/im...rry-crayne.jpg

We have a couple owls in my neighborhood. Always fun to see/hear them.

Eric,
Did you take this?

Please...can't we think of the shrews?

It looks to me like the owl is the one about to do the taking.

No Sir. Wish I had though. I am just getting back into photography. Been on hiatus a while.

I'll take the hoots for eight-hundred please, Alex.

_

Sweet shot right there!

Occasionally hear an owl here in the Chicago burbs, usually very early morning as I am taking off on a road trip. Never seen it.
My place in NW WI, I have one just inside the tree line almost every evening. It hoots for a bit and must fly off for other hunting grounds. I have seen it, a Barred Owl. Since I have plenty of mice, I welcome it with open arms and wish it great success in its endeavors.

My neighboorhod is in a fairly rural area. I can go three miles south and often not see any other moving car. One day about 2 miles south a owl swooped down right over the front of the car, and grabbed a squirrel in the ditch that had just crossed the road. It was just feet away from me and really cool to see. I did have to hit the brakes to avoid not hitting the owl.

There is a great horned owl nest not to far from us in one of the natural areas by our house.
A few years ago I almost stepped on one of the owlets during an outing with the cubs.
The parents were nearby and were not happy with our selection of location so we moved...
Love to watch birds of prey in flight. We should start to see our migrating raptors returning soon.

Looking at the mark in the snow, I'd say someone tossed the mouse there to get the shot. lol

I've never seen an owl hunting. I've seen quite a few hawks hunting. I used to drive past large open grasslands and would frequently see hawks attack. I once stepped out of my front door and had a hawk grab something 10-15' from me and then take off. Probably the most memorable was when I saw a juvenile bald eagle snag a duck from the pond behind my mom's house.
The folks that we just bought our property from told us that they've seen a big owl on the property a few times. I'm hoping it's still around as long as it doesn't end up thinking our pup looks like a snack.
I used to occasionally hear a barred owl in our old neighborhood. Where we live now there are supposed to be "Crested Caracara." I've seen them before, but hopefully, I'll get to see them around here.
Absolutely. Makes you wonder if the owl is trained/semi-domesticated like a falcon/hawk/eagle used for hunting.

Was pulling out of the driveway one early morning and had an owl swoop down about 5 feet in front of the windshield. Scared the poop outta me!

Their silent swoop is amazing. I have a couple of Great Horned hooters in the forest here and on cold evenings I can hear them calling.

Owls are nearly silent in flight as they go in for the kill. OTOH, Pigeons are some of the fastest bird but flap their wings noisily.

https://youtu.be/d_FEaFgJyfA

This video compares the noise generated in flight by various birds. Mics don't even pick up the owl.

My mom used to live in the woods in the FL panhandle. She had several folks including a cop tell her that she had an enormous owl living near her place. The cop said it was the biggest owl that he'd ever seen. She had a bird feeder in the front yard. There was a pipe in the ground and then the pipe that the bird feeder was on fit about 1' down into the pipe. She was pretty sure that raccoons would try to get the bird seed at night.

One night she was asleep with the windows cracked. She heard a loud, deep noise, twice, like whump, whump, then nothing. Then a few seconds later, she heard a really loud crash. It scared the poop out of her. She left the doors and windows shut and stayed in bed. The next morning when she got up, the bird feeder was laying on the ground 10' from where it was normally sticking up out of the ground and covered in blood.

Her assumption is that the big owl took off (two big wing flaps at launch) and then soared down and grabbed a raccoon or baby raccoon that was on the bird feeder and when it flew off with the raccoon, took the bird feeder with it a short way.

Very cool video! Thanks.