Great Horned Owl Gets Mobbed (Videos)

The Pine Grove is a large patch of huge pine trees (a few acres). It is completely surrounded by suburban neighborhoods, and as a result, every animal in the surrounding neighborhoods use the pine grove as a refuge, to reproduce and feed. One of our local fox families maintains two dens in the Pine Grove. There are also plenty of bird's nests, belonging to ravens, crows, blue jays, and i'm sure much more (possibly owls). 

Today, while doing trail camera stuff in the Pine Grove, I kept getting distracted by the constant shrieking and cawing of crows, towards the north end of the woods. It sounded very distant, but also very loud. I figured out that there must be something interesting going on. The cawing sounded so aggressive and constant, that they couldn't have possible been courting, or communicating about food. I knew they were agitated, even before I got to see them. I followed the aqueduct, until I could see the flock flapping around in circles. All their fear was based around one spot in the trees. Somebody was actually standing directly underneath the mob, hooting with his hands cupped over his mouth. When he walked away, I moved to take his place. As I walked over to the noise, I heard the cawing get way louder suddenly and saw this...

...The same thing kept repeating over and over. The crows would land in the surrounding trees, or on branches near the great horned owl. They would caw incessantly and dive bomb it until it gave in, and flew a couple trees over, only to land again, and repeat the cycle of noise. The owl was silent the whole time.

...As you hear the caws at the end of that least video fade away, I did too. When I hit the button to stop recording, the owl finally retreated. It left the woods, and flapped in panic out into the suburbs. If you live in the Ryder rd, Swanson st, Nadine rd, Craig rd, Joseph rd or Wayside road area, you are inside the suburbs i just mentioned. I've heard the Great Horned Owl's echoing hoot in those neighborhoods at night, and captured trail camera video of one hunting.

Crows and other birds will attack much larger birds, because they will kill fledglings, and raid nests. The crows were only protecting their babies. Crows are some of the first to lay eggs, sometimes as early as February. Ive seen crows attack hawks, owls, and ravens, and ive seen a junco chasing a bald eagle. The bald eagle was like 30 times it's size and was flapping away in fear.

                                            I hope I see the owl again soon. Great Horned Owls also nest early, so It's possible that the owl was trying to hunt for it's chicks. I hope they have a nest at Juniper Hill, and I hope that nest stays undiscovered by the crows. Its likely that both parties were just fighting to keep their offspring alive, The owl was hunting for it's babies, and the crows were defending their babies.

                                                                   Thanks For Reading