Thanks again, Helena.  I don't expect to have to deal with injured owls,
just starving ones that might be right on the edge of survival.  Of course
they'll eat even long dead rodents, like most birds will.  Funny they
disdain white ones.

Just curiously, are you making a distinction between owls and "raptors" as
in hawks, or are you meaning all raptors?  I have some experience with
hawks, having assisted a raptor bander for several years long ago, so I
know they, large or small, never lose their feisty attitude, no matter
what.  Although I've heard that Cooper's hawks will sometimes faint away or
play dead when they find themselves trapped in an enclosed porch or
something.


On Sun, 20 Jan 2019 16:42:50 -0500, H Nicolay <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Jane. Owls will surprisingly eat deceased rodents as long as it looks
> like a rodent and is brown. I had owls snub at white mice. Capturing an
owl
> is indeed stressful for it but I have released countless injured owls
that
> were grabbed and stuffed in a box and driven for many hours with no ill
> effect. Grabbing a raptor is more of a huge indignity and incredulity
for
> it since it cannot comprehend you are trying to help. Helena.
> 
> On Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 4:28 PM Jane Stein <[log in to unmask] wrote:
> 
>> Oh, there's a thought with the mouse corpses.  Thanks, Helena.  If I
can
>> slog my way through this snow, I may try that, although mice tend to be
>> deep in their burrows this time of year and not invading my house to be
>> snapped!  In future, maybe I'll put some deceased mice from the late
fall
>> home invasion push in my freezer, but for the next months, the cupboard
>> will be bare.  My next-door neighbor, half a mile down the road, has
>> horses
>> and surely lots of mice year-round, but she and they go on vacay for
the
>> winter months.  The house on the other side is on the market and vacant
>> for
>> now.  Nuts!
>>
>> I worry that my doing that, though, would further stress any owl in the
>> vicinity, which I surely don't want to do.  I wouldn't dream of trying
to
>> capture one for that reason alone.  Any owl weak enough from near
>> starvation to allow itself to be captured by an amateur like me,
however
>> well coached, would be impossibly stressed by the experience, I would
>> think,.and likely not savable anyway, no?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 20 Jan 2019 16:14:07 -0500, H Nicolay <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> > Hi Jane and all. Under the Vermont fish and wildlife website there is
a
>> > list of raptor rehabilitators. Myself among them are ready to help
any
>> owl
>> > in need. Please seek advice first from a Rehabber safest way to
capture
>> a
>> > raptor. I believe their talons exert 600 pounds of pressure per inch.
>> > Helena Nicolay. North stream wildlife rescue. Monkton. Ps. Whoever
snap
>> > traps mice invading homes, one can always place mice on low tree
>> branches
>> > for owls and ravens and crows.
>> >
>> > On Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 4:05 PM Jane Stein <[log in to unmask]
wrote:
>> >
>> >> This kind of snowfall is particularly hard on Barred Owls because
they
>> >> can't dive deep enough to catch a mouse underneath even if they can
>> hear
>> >> it
>> >> clearly through a foot-plus of snow.  It will get worse, too, as
this
>> >> snow
>> >> packs down on itself and gets really impenetrable.  I remember one
>> >> very
>> >> snowy winter that went on and on and on some years ago when there
were
>> >> barred owls everywhere sitting out on fenceposts and lower tree
>> branches
>> >> during the daylight hours, until they were so weak from hunger, they
>> >> couldn't manage a pounce anyway, and they were falling off dead.
>> >> Horrible
>> >> to see, but what can you do?
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Sun, 20 Jan 2019 15:36:36 -0500, Eugenia Cooke
>> >> <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> wrote:
>> >> > Large and beautiful barred owl surveying my yard an hour ago. Very
>> rare
>> >> > here! No Flickr account. I never see people sending pics on
vtbird,
>> >> > just
>> >> > links, so won't unless advised it's okay to do so.
>> >>
>>