Wild world

[coolford]

Weather in the Ozarks was wild today, thunderstorms early, then snow (only an inch) then freezing rain.  Wife asked if I fed the birds about 9 AM and I had not, so went out and fed them.  We get lots of Junco's also known as snowbirds about 15 or so this morning.  Little later the wife tells me one of them hit the window and is laying on the ground.  I told her give it a little time to revive if it is still alive.  A few minutes later I went to the window, looked down and the bird was sitting on its feet and looked like it was going to be okay.  And then, WHAM another larger bird came out of the sky and hit the Junco in an explosion of feathers, thrashed around for a few seconds and flew off with the Junco.  Nothing was left but a small pile of feathers.  I was able to identify the larger bird as a screech owl in its red/brown form.  I didn't know they ate small birds, but looked it up and they do, especially in winter when insects are in short supply.  Like I said, wild in the Ozarks today.