Althouse: In Oregon, owls are stealing people's hats.

February 5, 2015

In Oregon, owls are stealing people's hats.

"It was kind of amazing how it just swooped down and grabbed my hat like that... It just pulled it right off my head like it was nothing!”

31 comments:

Robert J. said...: "Your hat, your hat, sir!"; 2/5/15, 9:14 PM
John henry said...: Did the guy have a big head?

Perhaps the owl could not avoid the giant freak head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EElxuL3AFC4

John Henry; 2/5/15, 9:15 PM
Meade said...: Birds are jerks.; 2/5/15, 9:19 PM
ken in tx said...: Mocking birds in the Philippines will dive bomb your head during nesting season if you come within 50 yards of their nests. They will scream just as they go over your head, and sometimes hit your head with their feet.; 2/5/15, 9:31 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: I've heard owls here in the city (Eugene) but have only seen one once. It wasn't interested in my woolen cap.

(Perhaps the Guardian wants to divert our attention from the shenanigans of the Democrats in the governor's house in Salem; the Oregonian has called for Gov. Kitzhaber to resign.); 2/5/15, 9:32 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: I saw a barred owl right off my balcony here in Salem a few years back, and we got a (blurry iPhone) snap of it. No sightings since.

ken in tx, not just in the Philippines, but everywhere. Mockingbirds are wonderful, but they're also aggressive as hell. Do not mess about with.

Marc Puckett, I don't think Kitzhaber is in any serious trouble. But then I don't get the Oregonian.; 2/5/15, 9:43 PM
FullMoon said...: At San Francisco Zoo, the seagulls perch in the snack shack roofs. You can guess the rest.; 2/5/15, 10:42 PM
Sam L. said...: MDT, it has to have taken a lot to get the Gonian to go after Governor Karamazov. But since the Dems pretty much own the Willamette Valley and can outvote the rest of the state, unless the Feds can tie Cylvia's misdeeds to him. you're likely right.

OH! Spotted owls are polite, and wouldn't steal your hat, but them bad-boy barred owls are takin' over and pushin' them out.; 2/5/15, 11:16 PM
Dagwood said...: Probably something to do with an attraction with the way the sun reflects off the tin foil.; 2/5/15, 11:45 PM
Writ Small said...: I think the message here is not to put anything on your head that could be mistaken for a rodent. First an ill-considered vaccine comment and now this.; 2/5/15, 11:49 PM
Quaestor said...: May I point that it is not a matter of hat-stealing owls, but rather owl, one bird with a behavioral tick. Recent research by ornithological behaviorists both here and abroad has shown that birds generally are more intelligent, observant, and aware of humans as individuals than is widely believed.

Some birds, corvids especially, are able to recognize individual human faces, others take in whole visual package. It has been known since at least the 13th century, according to the writings of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, that falconers should dress uniformly lest their varied attire confuse and distract their hawks.

The hat-hating owl may have mistaken all hat-wears for a particular hatted one who did said owl a mischief.; 2/6/15, 1:01 AM
Ken said...: In the early 1990s in Moscow, when banditry was high and everyone wore fur hats, it was rumoured that some people had trained falcons to steal mink hats from people's heads.; 2/6/15, 1:36 AM
Rusty said...: What did Oregon do to piss off the owl people?; 2/6/15, 5:58 AM
MaxedOutMama said...: Frats. Just more juvenile owl pranks.; 2/6/15, 6:36 AM
George M. Spencer said...: They do this during mating season and/or when owlets (?) have just hatched.; 2/6/15, 6:41 AM
Brill said...: Quite the clever owl. Copping hats and selling them to other owls for their nests. Apparently they make excellent superstructures for basic nest design.; 2/6/15, 7:12 AM
Curious George said...: #owllivesmatter; 2/6/15, 7:29 AM
m11_9 said...: As The Onion put it a few years back (wow '97!), "Owls are Assholes." They even made a t-shirt later on.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/owls-are-assholes,9307/; 2/6/15, 7:47 AM
Curious George said...: Who?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDNjGMThbQ; 2/6/15, 8:07 AM
Bryan C said...: And...eagles are turning people into horses?

http://youtu.be/c1-Oep9uNwM; 2/6/15, 8:13 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: 2) ???
3) Profit!; 2/6/15, 8:37 AM
Paul said...: Just take a 12 gauge with you on your walks. You can get that hat back right quick! Just handload some rock salt shells.

Might have a few extra holes but it will still be yours. And the owl will learn to not touch your hat.; 2/6/15, 8:55 AM
dbp said...: "Originally from the east coast and first seen in Oregon, Washington and California in the 1970s, barred owls have been blamed for pushing out the endangered northern spotted owl."

Nice to know, now that the loggers are all out of a job.; 2/6/15, 9:04 AM
Michael said...: I just listened to a podcast of Criminal where a guy is trying to get off a murder charge by saying the owl did it.

http://thisiscriminal.com/episode-one-animal-instincts-1-31-2014-2/; 2/6/15, 9:17 AM
SayAahh said...: It could be worse. It could have been purses.; 2/6/15, 10:01 AM
Insufficiently Sensitive said...: "It was kind of amazing how it just swooped down and grabbed my hat like that... It just pulled it right off my head like it was nothing!”.

At last, some wise owls have figured out the woolly hats are perfect prefab nests, and will spare them the hard labor of building a new one.; 2/6/15, 10:08 AM
Milwaukie guy said...: Barred Owls can still breed with Spotted Owls because they are cousins separated during the last ice age. Barred Owls will live anywhere, including urban areas. Spotted Owls only like old growth forest. Barred Owls are pretty omnivorous, including eating Spotted Owl eggs. Spotted Owls really love them flying squirrels, being sort of snooty about their food.

No wonder Oregon is going to try to decimate the Barred Owl. [Yes, that's blowing away 10% of the population to see if that can slow the Spotted Owl decline.]

Some of our rural counties cannot even support an adequately-staffed sheriff's patrol because of the destruction of the logging industry in the world's prime habitat for softwood lumber production.; 2/6/15, 10:56 AM
Rusty said...: Oregon owls have a very keen sense of fashion.; 2/6/15, 11:38 AM
Sam L. said...: My understanding, Milwaukie, is that they may prefer old growth, but don't require it.; 2/6/15, 12:16 PM
Milwaukie guy said...: You're right. It's just a locavore thing [sp?].; 2/6/15, 9:07 PM
mikee said...: Bartholemew Cubbins, beware!; 2/7/15, 11:13 AM