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Monday, July 30, 2012

frog for breakfast?



One advantage of working at a nature center is, well, the nature that greets you in the morning. Some times it's even a barred owl perched on a bridge railing watching the pond below. 

It may have been waxing poetic: enjoying the early morning mist as were all we, or, I suspect, it wanted to catch a last minute snack before its night of hunting ended. (I always like a glass of milk before I trundle off to bed. Amphibian flesh would be a bit exotic for my own personal taste, especially raw and still kicking. I suppose I might be open for frog fricassee, but the sauce would have to be right, nothing too heavy before bedtime.)

Barred owls are mostly nocturnal and crepuscular (active at twilight). Come to think of it, I'm a bit crepuscular myself.

They prefer woods near water and feed on a wide variety of prey, including mice, moles, voles, shrews, rats, squirrels, young rabbits, insects and aquatic creatures like small fish, turtles, frogs, snakes, lizards and crayfish.

The small pond the owl was watching is a great place to find frogs. And even though several of the nature center’s staff got photos of the early morning owl, it didn’t seem to mind posing. It's a lucky thing that we are not frogs.

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