A Murder Mystery

On Saturday morning, while out wandering the gardens, Patty came upon a gruesome scene. A dead baby bunny. Perhaps the same one that I had seen alive just a few days before. Perhaps it should have been more wary of other creatures.

The bunny was lying there, sans head and one leg, although there was what might have been remains of the head there as well. What predator would leave its kill like this?

To hopefully find out, I set up at the trail cam to monitor the kill. The next morning the body was gone; no indication it had ever been there.

And the camera captured this:

A Barred Owl.

Something of a local nemesis bird, as we had heard them calling, often during the day, throughout April and May. And at times quite nearby. But much to our disappointment, they were heard and not seen.

But was the owl the killer? It's possible. And it explains how it knew to come back for the rest.

But it is not the only suspect ...

Returning to the scene of the crime? This Northern Raccoon visited about an hour and a half after the owl. But as you can see, by that time everything was gone. Curiously, there were no images of the owl taking off. Presumably it did so with the bunny carcass, as there are no trail cam images until the raccoon shows up.

🦉🐇🦉🐇🦉

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Here is a link to an image of the dead Eastern Cottontail as Patty found it. Warning, it is not a pleasant image. Viewer discretion advised. To see the image, click here.