Neat video!

If anyone is wondering, this owl would have indeed eaten this turkey if things had gone differently.

WildTurkeyLab: Predation from Great-horned Owls

When you think about predators that kill adult wild turkeys, you often think about mammals such as coyotes and bobcats. And although those are certainly predators of adults, we see consistent predation on adults from great-horned owls.

Interestingly, these owls typically kill adults at the roost site, and they kill toms more often than hens.

I suspect that in many cases, toms in particular start gobbling in the morning and horned owls can locate and attack toms while they’re roosting and distracted.

Evidence at kill sites is distinctive, in that owls appear to hit the bird and carry them to the ground 20+ yards away from the roost tree – so there is a trail of feathers from the roost tree to the carcass. The owls typically remove the bird’s head, and then remove skin and meat from the breast and legs.

But we’ve also seen instances where the bird was killed and no meat was removed, suggesting that the predation event was not directed at food acquisition, which is interesting.

The take home is, great horned owls are a relevant predator of adult wild turkeys and leave distinctive pieces of evidence at the scene.

Photo of GHO with a fallen turkey. (Nothing graphic, but still a dead turkey, so I spoiler tagged it.)