" crime scene investigation"...partridge attack!

[Jason Berard]

WARNING!!!! Graphic images attached in link!!!!!

ok, here goes. I saw a few feathers on the Ranger Trail on Smart's yesterday, and figured there must be a kill site nearby. I spotted the remains about 15-20 feet into the woods, and headed over. I saw feathers, entrails, one claw( but no other bones), a bunch of snowshoe hare tracks, and partridge tracks. That's it, no predator tracks.....odd. Then I see feather imprints in the snow about 4 feet away....so I'm thinking....owl?
It looked like that pattern that owl wings make on the snow when they land on their prey. What do you guys think? I'm also thinking that this was less than 24 hrs. old, as we had a light dusting of snow Monday night.....

I'd appreciate any thought anyone has about this......If it was an owl, did it grab the partridge while it was roosting? Do partridge roost in trees? Do owls eat birds that size??

pics are here Thanks for looking.

 

[Grumpy]

Yikes! Grisly stuff!

You are no doubt correct in guessing owl -- or some other winged predator. It sure did a job.

Neat find, actually. And a neat reminder that Nature is wonderful, but not all nicey-nicey.

G.

 

[imarchant]

WARNING!!!! Graphic images attached in link!!!!!

I'd appreciate any thought anyone has about this......If it was an owl, did it grab the partridge while it was roosting? Do partridge roost in trees? Do owls eat birds that size??

pics are here Thanks for looking.

Partridge (grouse) roost under the snow. I did a google search on "grouse roosting" and learned that they only roost under the snow if it is more then 10" deep. I think your assumption that this was an owl is a good one. Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

 

[Jason Berard]

now I'm not so sure about the owl hypothesis.....it seems that owls don't "pluck" their prey, and there sure were a lot of feathers at the site......maybe some other bird of prey?

 

[nartreb]

I took a similar photo warning: bird body parts low on the Ammo trail last spring.
CSI time: the feathers are consistent with a violent attack on the ground (feathers dropped from above would spread out a lot more), but there were no clear tracks. I concluded at the time that a raptor took its meal up a tree and dropped the bits of leg and wing from there - I think I also saw some blood on the tree.

 

[Puck]

now I'm not so sure about the owl hypothesis.....it seems that owls don't "pluck" their prey, and there sure were a lot of feathers at the site......maybe some other bird of prey?

My vote is Northern Goshawk.

Great horned owl is a good possibility. In Jan they start mating. Eggs come later in Feb and the hunting activity ramps up. The time hunting gets extened into day light in the morning and evening..however that has not happened yet. Grouse, especially if living in a subnivean mode are diurnal.

Owls eat usually by swallowing whole from a perch,oOr ripping apart and swallowing whole.
Feathers, bones and all. They later yack up a pellet.
That grouse leg was cleaned off in the style an accipitor or buteo at the kill site. Like Jason pointed out there was a lot of plucking.

The raptors that would prey on grouse in the area would be rough legged hawks and goshawks this time of year. They are diurnal hunters. It could be either. RL Hawks can be found watching fields for rodents, however, they do eat birds. They are in thier winter range, down from the taiga and tundra and into New England.

The Goshawk is a chief predator of grouse. They do not necessarily migrate. So they are in thier winter range.

It seems that your picture shows a big wing span.

Great pics.

 

[Jason Berard]

Thanks a Ton guys! Nartreb and Puck, thats great info.
If I went back, would there be any clues to look for which would more definitively point to one or the other? The wingspan was large....I guess I should've taken the photo with something in it for scale.... maybe from now on I'll bring my tape measure!!