Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Noisy Midnight Snack
Hey, Matthew:
Why don't owls eat mockingbirds that are singing all night?
-- Bob, telephonically
We're now past the mockingbird all-night-warbling season, since the new crop of mockers is off the nest and composing next spring's annoying trills and screeches. The most reliable way to shut them up is just to wait it out. But owls might work. They're raptors, like hawks and falcons and eagles, so a midnight snack of mockingbird isn't out of the question. And since most owl species hunt at night, a whistling, cackling, yodeling feather sandwich on a high, exposed perch would seem like a sitting duck, as it were. But given their choice, owls prefer to graze at the rodent, reptile, and small-animal buffet. Owls' strong feet and sharp beaks and talons subdue them easily. Taking on a feisty, territorial male mockingbird that's going to fight back is another question. If an owl doesn't have to work that hard for dinner, he won't. But mockingbird is on the list of owl food, so owls can glide in silently and catch a mocker by surprise. I guess they just don't do it in your neighborhood.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Noisy Midnight Snack
Noisy Midnight Snack
Hey, Matthew:
Why don't owls eat mockingbirds that are singing all night?
-- Bob, telephonically
We're now past the mockingbird all-night-warbling season, since the new crop of mockers is off the nest and composing next spring's annoying trills and screeches. The most reliable way to shut them up is just to wait it out. But owls might work. They're raptors, like hawks and falcons and eagles, so a midnight snack of mockingbird isn't out of the question. And since most owl species hunt at night, a whistling, cackling, yodeling feather sandwich on a high, exposed perch would seem like a sitting duck, as it were. But given their choice, owls prefer to graze at the rodent, reptile, and small-animal buffet. Owls' strong feet and sharp beaks and talons subdue them easily. Taking on a feisty, territorial male mockingbird that's going to fight back is another question. If an owl doesn't have to work that hard for dinner, he won't. But mockingbird is on the list of owl food, so owls can glide in silently and catch a mocker by surprise. I guess they just don't do it in your neighborhood.
Comments