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Runners have been attacked by owls


Big Bad Voodoo

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http://news.discovery.com/adventure/runners-attacked-by-owls-120927.html

In the past month, four runners have been attacked by owls in separate incidents, Runner's World magazine notes.

Two of the attacks occurred near Washington, D.C., one in England, and one in Vancouver. Two happened at dusk, and two in early morning, by different species of owls. No one was seriously injured, but the 17-year-old British boy was knocked off his feet.

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i bet their iPod's irritate the owls, the sound of just jogging wouldn't be enough for an attack. maybe its mating season

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That is scary...well for me at least. ever since I was a child i was scared of owls. i use to have horrible dreams with them in it accompanied with lights and faceless beings. they always made their presence to me in them. poor runners....word of advice.....run faster

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Maybe they are getting tired of them running by waking them up.

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It makes me laugh that we consider animals to be attacking us when daily we destroy more and more of their natural habits.

Just like when a beaver destroys a fishes habitat by building a dam or an owl destroys a squirrels habitat by nesting or a bear destroys a bees habitat by cracking it open to get at the grubs? It amazes me how many people hate humanity. Humans do more to try and live in peace with the other animals around them then any other creature on this planet.

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A few weeks back there was a spate of large bird 'attacks' on walkers in the woods locally, some suspected it was an escaped or loose captive bird of prey - will have to find the links and any update.

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Are you trolling know-nothing?

He makes a good point - we're one of the few species that actually cares about how other species around us are faring/doing.

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WE do? Really? May a small percentage but not enough to make a difference. Not by far. Most animals have to come close to extinction at our hand -directly or indirectly before we so much as begin to react.

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That is scary...well for me at least. ever since I was a child i was scared of owls. i use to have horrible dreams with them in it accompanied with lights and faceless beings. they always made their presence to me in them. poor runners....word of advice.....run faster

Book advice, "I Heard the Owl Call My Name" by Margaret Craven.

Owls aren't evil, they're just inquisitive. Hence, maybe, their association with wisdom.

Years ago on a wood lot (post harvest) the new trees were about 15 - 20 feet tall. I had a small owl land next to me, probably by accident (when he landed I actually jumped). The look on his face was priceless. When we both realized we were about 6 feet apart, he gave me the old "If I pretend to not see you, will you pretend as well?"

I gave him the same furtive look. He glanced at me over his shoulder a few times, turned his body while he was doing so, and flew off a few more feet.

I knew later that while I was walking through the wood lot I was kicking up mice and shrews for him to eat. He just didn't expect the 'big dumb beast' that was doing him the favour, to come eye to eye with him.

Edited by Likely Guy
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I love owls. Hope they don't get culled

Chooky, amazing avatar. For those that haven't noticed, scroll up and look at the baby's T-shirt (the dog has second thoughts, except he's willing).

And yes, the term 'cull'. Definition: originally, (usually a mass) killing of an inconvenient creature of nature for humankind's (usually secondary) benefit.

Edited by Likely Guy
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If one attacks me, then a fight to the death will begin.

Only one of us will see the light of day.

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The theory that it might be young owls could be the reason. The summer I came out of my house to see my cat sitting about a foot from a screech owl that was sitting on the ground. I moved the cat and the owl tried to fly away and crash landed in the grass. I realized it was a fledgling and hadn't quite learned the mastery of the air yet. Later that night I heard something hit the sliding glass door of our balcony and got up to find the owl sitting on the balcony acting as if drunk (probably from banging its head!). It collected itself and finally flew off. Thinking that would be the end of it, the next night I heard another bang against the glass and there it was again! The second knock on the head must have finally gotten through to the owl that this was not a good idea and that was the last I saw of it. Screech owls pose no danger to humans, they are about 5" tall and rather cute, and mostly eat insects and mice, and the "screech" seems to be a misnomer as well because they frequently call at night but I have never heard anything approaching a "screech", more like a quite trill.

On the other hand we also have great horned owls here, and while none has ever been that close, I have seen them in our trees at dusk and once during the day when it was being mobbed by the other birds. This is a formidable looking owl and a friend head one carry off a young raccoon one night. Hopefully my cat is not dumb enough to get that close to one of these.

We also had an owl swoop in for a good look at my mother-in-law's chihuahua one night, he we not been standing there, who knows.....?

I did have a friend who worked for a cable company who was walking in the woods beneath some power-poles checking the cables. He heard a "whooshing" sound and the next thing he knew he came to lying on the ground with his head bleeding profusely. Seems he had gotten too close to a red-tailed hawk's nest and the bird nailed him in the back of the neck with both talons and knocked him out cold.

Edited by Sundew
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Chooky, amazing avatar. For those that haven't noticed, scroll up and look at the baby's T-shirt (the dog has second thoughts, except he's willing).

Why thank you Likely Guy. I actually didn't notice the owl on my daughters top! Cool coincidence :-)

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They are just getting a closer look to see WHO it is...... But really who doesnt like aggresive hooters?????

Edited by MidKn13ght
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Warning this house guarded by an ATTACK OWL! lol

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Are you trolling know-nothing?

Not even sure what trolling means my friend, looking around? Guess so, I come on here every day or two to read the recent headlines because I like them. Usually don't post because it's rare I would come back but I had to say something here. Checked back because I figure some people wouldn't take it well. I'm sorry you have such a low opinion of our species, but if you really look around we're not all that bad. Going by your assesment we walk around killing animals for no reason and destroying their habitats for fun. That's simply not the case.

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I've seen some BIG owls - at least 12 inches tall if not more. And they're totally silent too, so you won't hear them coming.

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@

mrknownothing

Well if you weren't trolling you're being naive. But if you live somewhere that people don't displace/kill off multitudes of animals by sprawling development, overfishing, overhunting, hunting for kicks, commercially overbreeding until 100's of thousands get sick and must be destroyed, burning their forests, altering entire ecosystems, introducing foreign predator species or simply pollute their land then good for you. Doesn't all have to be intentional but the end result is the same. Without us playing bad god/good god they'd be better off.

Edited by Mr. Smith
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I've seen some BIG owls - at least 12 inches tall if not more. And they're totally silent too, so you won't hear them coming.

Back on topic, my grandmother has Barn owls roost in some of the buildings around the farm, a few years ago a baby fell out of the rafters, couldn't fly yet and the mother was nowhere around. So to keep it safe at night from coons, feral cats, coyotes and hawks they put it in a small dog kennel. The next morning they came out to find the mother had stopped by and pushed several bits of a dead mouse through the screen door. I could never kill an Owl. Plus they keep the walnut thieven' squirrels at bay.

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