owl and jay locked in a grisly mystery
This is a photo taken by Art Straub near Henderson in mid March of this year. It is a red phase eastern screech owl and a blue jay found dead together in the snow. Art said that when the photo was taken, the bodies were still warm, and it appears that the owl was attempting to dispatch the jay. There are so many questions that this photo raises? Why would a screech owl attack a similar-sized blue jay? What caused the death of the owl? Did they die simultaneously, or one before the other? If the bluejay died before the owl, why didn’t the owl have the jay in its talons? Anyway, a great photo of a grisly mystery. If you have any thoughts on the sequence of events that might have led up to it, or if you’ve seen something similar, I’d love to hear about it. Thanks for the photo Art.