Several Crows and a Barred Owl...

On Tuesday, 12-29-20, while on a fat bike ride I came across several crows making a lot of noise. I stopped my bike to look and listen. I figured there was an owl that they were pestering. There were at least 5 crows I saw that were dive bombing  something in the distance.

I turned my bike around on the trail and in the video I saw two deer running across the trail that I didn’t see at the time, because I was looking up in the trees for whatever the crows were aggressively attacking.

Shortly, I saw a Barred Owl being chased by a couple crows.  The owl landed in a tree right along the trail about 15 yards from me. The crow directly behind the owl swooped down and pecked the owl on the top of the head before landing above the owl.

When the owl landed it immediately looked at me for the 4 seconds it stayed there. I’m sure I’m reading more into the “look” that the owl was giving me, but if the owl could speak I’m sure he would have asked for “help”. The crows weren’t giving up in their aggressive pursuit of the owl.

Once again, the owl flew off with the two crows giving chase and at least one other crow joining in. The owl landed a short distance away. I thought I could see the owl so I was going to go into the woods and try to scare the crows away or maybe keep them occupied on me. I felt bad for the owl. The underbrush was pretty thick so I didn’t get far before the owl was forced to fly away again. This was the fourth time the owl flew in the few minutes since I stopped. This time the owl was flying toward an open field and the owl certainly couldn’t out fly the crows

Where the owl was initially located was mostly deciduous trees that was very open because of the lack of leaves, so the owl was having a tough time trying to escape to cover from the crows.

Well, I hope the owl survived…I still can see the “look” on the owls face when it was looking at me.