A Wisconsin filmmaker has captured rare footage showing a great horned owl absorbing a direct hit to the face by a marauding crow, and standing its ground during a prolonged “crow mob assault.”
Freddy Moyano was observing a great horned owl nest in east Green Bay in late March when crows began to harass the male owl – 10 feet from a nest with mom and owlets – in an attempt to drive the large raptor from the area.
The first video accompanying this post shows the direct assault in slow motion, and viewers will note that the owl turns its head just in time to defend against the incoming threat. The second video, featuring beautiful footage of the owl, captures the overall scene and the dynamics of this type of situation.
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Crows routinely harass owls and other raptors, even though great horned owls consider crows to be prey. But harassment typically involves dive-bombing and incessant cawing, and sometimes pecking, rather than direct bodily strikes.
“This is a very unusual thing to encounter,” Moyano, who posts weekly videos to his Wisconsin wildlife channel, told For The Win Outdoors. “I’ve seen them do this with hawks, but with great horned owls it’s much less frequent.”
As Moyano states in the second video, great horned owls stock their nest with freshly killed prey to prevent hungry chicks from killing each other during competition for food. This attracts crows, which gang up in the hope one or both parents will fly away long enough for crows to nab carrion or young owlets from the nest.
Moyano, who recently captured footage of a short-eared owl clobbering a northern harrier with an in-flight karate-style kick, states in his video that “We have heard testimonies of crows pecking owls to death by attacking in a similar way, confusing the owl.
“This great horned owl stood its ground and did not even fly away, which could have been a sign of evident weakness that could endanger the nest even more.”
Moyano, an award-winning voiceover specialist, also runs MLC Productions.
