Watch This Great Horned Owl Bathing in a Colorado Kiddie Pool With Its Magpie Friend
Last summer I shared a video of owl babies and their mom waiting at a chicken coop. Well, one of those owls is back tormenting those chickens (and ducks), but this time it brought a magpie friend and found out bathing in the kiddie pool is pretty fun.
Lots of people put out bird baths. A shallow bowl of water that cute little birds flap their wings around in. It's cute. Well, this takes it to a much bigger scale.
This Great Horned Owl has decided to take a big bird bath in the duck's kiddie pool located south of Denver. You can hear the duck's feelings about it in the video. Who knew? It's so fun to see such a fierce and majestic predator having such a simple, carefree moment. But, what about that magpie?
It would be easy to believe the magpie and the owl are friends as you watch the magpie stay right next to the owl during the bath, on the fence post, and in flight back to the trees. There's actually a children's book called The Owl and the Magpie. However, this may not be friendship.
What may be going on between these winged creatures could be "mobbing". According to Juneau Empire "mobbing of predators is most often observed during the breeding season, when nesting birds of many species defend their nestlings and fledglings from potential danger. The mobbers may actually bother a predator sufficiently to make it move elsewhere. Or perhaps their frenzied attacks distract a predator, keeping it from focusing on nest and chick locations."
The owl certainly does not seemed too bothered and has found a new way to cool off.