Maeve - at times raptors have to be opportunists re food availability.  I've seen a Rough-leg competing with Co. Ravens for a road killed fox carcass at the Ft. Edward grasslands in Washington Co, NY adjacent the VT border. Not exactly their usual lemming Arctic fare.  I'll pass on the rabbit head thing as probable pure myth: normally rabbits are field dwellers, Barred Owls dense forest dwellers.
Bob Yunick
Schenectady, NY


-----Original Message-----
From: Maeve Kim <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Mon, Jan 25, 2021 5:02 pm
Subject: [VTBIRD] Barred Owls eating rabbits

I’d always thought Barred Owls take prey they can swallow whole, so when we saw one in our driveway last winter, huddled over a rabbit, we thought it was just desperate because a hard coating over the snow was preventing it from getting to its usual prey. However, a friend e-mailed photos taken a few days ago of a Barred Owl eating a rabbit in their yard. He said he’d heard that the males of this species often use rabbits’ heads as courtship gifts. Has anyone else heard this?
Maeve Kim, Jericho Center