Male Great Horned Owl Catches Rodent, 9/7/2023 in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Charles, a male Great Horned Owl, catches a small rodent, most likely a mouse or vole, on the ground and flies off to eat it. This was a little over 20 minutes past sunset. Charles had flown from his perch just after sunset and spent over 20 minutes in this fly-to perch and was frequently carefully observing the ground below and bobbed his head several times. He dropped down in a highly vertical descent and caught this rodent. The rodent was perhaps 20-30 feet from the branch from which he had flown! Absolutely amazing!
I have been observing, documenting and doing outreach with Charles, his mates and their owlets since December 2005 in Forest Park; a large urban park in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. To learn more about them, please visit my blog Forest Park Owls, forestparkowls.blogspot.com and check me out on Twitter and Instagram @forestparkowls Thank you for watching! Please hit the like button, subscribe and thank you for your interest and support!