Fall happenings on the trail
On the morning walk to the dock I've found two headless Varied thrushes on the trail in the last month. One was pretty close to the Litman's house, the other on the trail between the path to the lake and the creek outlet. The first disappeared during the day, the second remained undisturbed for two days then was covered by snow for a week or so. It was still on the trail after the snow melted (a week or so) until one of the neighborhood dogs found it.
I was fairly convinced that the hunter was a raptor of some sort, since the only thing initially missing was the head. In my experience with local owls, they don't leave much behind besides a small pile of feathers, so I thought it might have been a Sharp-shinned hawk or something similar. Given that the first bird disappeared the first day, I guess it could have been an owl that was interrupted by traffic (the neighbors take their dogs for a walk pretty early) and returned later after we had passed. The area has a mix of Sitka and Red alder with a pretty open
feel to it. I've seen several owls in this habitat over the years and last night walking home saw one perched in a branch over hanging the trail where I've seen one before, so maybe this is the thrush eater.The second bird, I'm not so sure about what killed it. I haven't seen owls in that area, which doesn't mean that they aren't using that habitat. There are bigger conifers and relatively dense understory of blueberry and Rusty Menziesia, so it might just be more difficult to spot them. I certainly could have been an owl that wasn't so comfortable with the narrow trail or a raptor winging through.
Not too far from the second kill site after a particularly heavy wet snow, a hemlock (roughly 10-12ft tall) perched on a nurse log was pulled off its log, presumably by its heavy ice covered branches and the decayed state of the log. The tree is still alive, so it might form a new leader and carry one, but not so sure how long folks will be willing to walk around it.
