The
wind and rain limited Ward to only one food delivery last night and it
looked like June was in for a long hungry day. Ward does not normally
extend his hunting into daylight unless the situation is desperate,
and without a lot of whining from June would usually wait and catch up the
next night. Today, however, he made an exception and pounced on a gray
squirrel that happened to scurry under his perch. He took the squirrel to
a spot about 50 feet from the nest and started to announce his arrival
with a monkey call. June responded instantly by bolting up into the
doorway before he could finish the first hoot and is shown here as she
flew out to meet him. Prey as large as a squirrel is not taken back to the
nest unless there are owlets to feed, so June enjoyed her meal on the
perch where it was delivered before returning to the nest. She then spent
a quiet day relaxing in the nest as Ward again slept on his favorite perch
just a couple of hundred feet away. There was no sign of the great horned
owls last night.