Payback time: Nicky the screech owl vs a ringtail
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- Nicky, our resident eastern screech owl, lives in an owl box in our backyard every year from October through February. This spring, after he moved out, a squirrel family moved in - a mother and 4 little pups. We’ve told their story on our website (The March 2020 Squirrel Family: texasbackyardw.... Nicky didn’t seem to mind having the squirrels borrowing his box in the off-season; he left them in peace and we assume they were there with his blessing.
One night in late March, when the squirrel pups were just days away leaving the box and exploring the outside world for the first time, a ringtail came in and killed them. The mother squirrel escaped and survived the attack, but there was nothing she could do to save her little ones and all of them died.
Well, apparently Nicky the screech owl was nearby and saw what happened.
Exactly 24 hours later the ringtail returned, hoping to finish his grim meal of squirrel pups, and Nicky was waiting for him. As the ringtail hesitated on a branch, about to enter the box, Nicky came blasting through like a bullet, using the hard leading edge of his wing to whack the ringtail on the head. We have read that owl researchers occasionally get this treatment from an owl and that it hurts, a lot. The ringtail quite literally did not know what had hit him. He flinched and ran for the shelter of the owl box. After a minute or so, hoping it might be safe to make his escape, he warily climbed back out and BAM! Nicky hit him again. That was enough, the ringtail fled and, 8 months later, has never returned to the box.
We saw the mama squirrel on the deck the next afternoon and told her what Nicky had done. She was still visibly shaken by the loss of her beautiful pups but I like to think that Nicky's attempt at payback made her feel a little better.
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This is a lot more relaxing than the evening news.
The evening news can be pretty upsetting though, to be fair.
Nicky said "I'm fast af boi!"
oof
Lol 😂
A wonderful story! Thank you for sharing this. Love this Nikki character
Mama squirrel is a big Nicky fan, too.
Liking this channel. Wild life drama is the best!
Thank you!
“Nicky OWNS this box..”
Nicky has a prime piece of real estate
Nature is so amazing. Animals are amazing. Love and blessings to them all.
WOW!!! Really illustrates how FAST Nicky is! Love your videos!
Nicky was a little speed demon! In this video, he was just a blur.
Nature is so cruel yet so beautiful.
There are a pair of ringtails that live around my deck. They are very noisy with their chirping at night but they are so cute that you can't help but love them. I discovered them about a week ago and thought they were some kind of huge, catlike nocturnal squirrel. That is, until I saw their stripy tails and faces. Loving this interspecies drama
How funny! We've never seen more than one at a time - never a pair. They are beautiful little creatures - almost like Japanese anime characters with their huge eyes and extravagant tails.
Never heard of a ringtail until I watched this video. Thank you for sharing.
Aren't they beautiful?
Nicky is a great wingman!
Heard the cutest sounds one night and went out with a flashlight to see the cutest Screech Owl on a wire and it let me get pretty close, all the while making such cute lil calls....such a cute bird
Screech owls have a beautiful call. They always sound like little ghosts to me.
Thanks, you're a good story teller.
Dan is a great story tell. I agree.
How come I just discovered this channel,This is heaven.
Thank you Limbu!
Didn’t know they were in the US very cool the screech got over on it tho
That's an amazing story!😱❤
We felt awful for the mama squirrel and her 4 babies. We really like to think Nicky was taking a little revenge on their behalf.
"Avenge the fallen!"
Stealth 🦉 OWL
Thanks for your commentary!... It's so awesome.. I'm glad I found this channel recently. I love watching it, and hearing your commentary in the editing!
Thank you so much for your very kind comment. Feedback like this makes it all even more fun.
I love you, Nicki!
Yeah!
great video!
Every video it's a big adventure to see, but first thing being impressed is your patience and your "right hand" for filming. Thank you soo much. I only can repeat myself. Best wishes 🌼🌼🌼
Beate! How nice to hear from you. Dan is working on some great videos of one of the fox families - it's taking a long time because we've been busy, but he should have something ready to publish this week. I hope you are well.
I raised a pinky squirrel from about two days old to five months old. Cats brought him to me. I thought he was a big baby rat. I googled and seen what he was. They are very hard to care for. Feed every two hours for the first couple weeks. I took him out to let him try out the trees and he took off. I left him food for about a month. I watched him come and pig out then return to the trees. I weaned him off of my help about 3 months ago. He is doing fine he will come visit for a bit but isn’t big on me touching him anymore. That’s a good thing though.
What a great, great story. You must have been very sleep-deprived by the end of the 2-hour feeding schedule. This was a very lucky baby squirrel. They are tiny when they're first born and the fact that you could keep him/her alive is really astonishing.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife at first for heat I used a heating mantle for a 500 ml round bottom flask. I set it on the lowest setting and put him in a wool skull cap and set it down in the mantle. I was so nervous I thought it would malfunction and get to hot. That was nerve racking. I was checking the temperature with a thermometer laser every 10 minutes😳😳. Also should have seen my face when I realized they couldn’t go to the bathroom on their own.
Pure awesomeness! You deserve much success. Liked and subbed.
Thank you!
Praise God for every good thing
Yes.
This is all in your backyard?!??? What fun
Yes! Aren't we lucky? We have a big backyard, but the main thing is that we have lots of cameras and they catch extraordinary things.
Nicky isn’t getting revenge for the ringtail killing the squirrel. She’s mad that the ringtail ate the squirrels before she could. It’s more likely that she’s beating him up for being in her house.
Yes, that's almost certainly true - although Nicky would never eat a squirrel, they're way, way too big. We just liked the idea of a screech owl avenging the loss of 4 baby squirrels. We wrote a story about it: texasbackyardwildlife.com/the-march-squirrel-family/
I wonder if Nicky was letting the ringtail know that he was the only predator allowed in that box....? 🦉
Yes, we think so. We like to think that Nicky knew about what happened to the squirrel family and was registering his disapproval.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife Sorry for the gender mistake. I just started following you. Thank you so much from a fellowTexan! I’m really enjoying your channel.
I love your channel! I'm hoping a screech owl will take residence in our recently installed birdbox.
We haven't seen Nicky, the screech owl who over-wintered in this box for about 6 years, since he left in late January last year. No one else has taken up residence in his box, although we're seeing lots of screech owls flying around. It was huge fun watching Nicky when he was in the box and we miss him. Good luck with attracting an owl to your new box!
Good ol Nicky!
Yes. That's what we said, too.
That was cool, love that stuff ! Thx bud !
Interesting video, had to look up the ring tail, not familiar with that animal. Always exciting to see animal interactions we normally couldn't witness, thank you!
Ringtails are beautiful little creatures, but this one had it coming (or that's what Nicky thought, anyway).
Sometimes the fascination between different species of animals is really fascinating. The owl attacked the ringtail and avenged the death of the squirrel pups.
That's what we want to believe and we're sticking with it.
Maybe Nicky was just mad that the ringtail broke into his house and stole his lunch.
Owls eat squirrels
Owls....The silent ass kickers of the night...
Even at 0.25 of normal speed: hard to see the owl's attack! Thank you+++
Owls eat small rodents, so she wasn’t protecting the squirrels from the ringtail. She was trying to protect her dinner 😬
Screech owls are teeny tiny birds. About the size of a coke can. The squirrels weigh about 3x what a screech owl does. This screech owl catches small songbirds, and tiny snakes. Even rats are too big for him.
Texas Backyard Wildlife Oh for heavens sakes! I thought he was much bigger than that? I couldn’t figure a sense of scale in order to estimate his size. I thought the box/nest was bigger which is why I thought he was bigger. Thanks for the info!
those eyes look supernatural, very good footage and story
Thank you!
Another excellent nature video. Thanks...
Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing 👍🏼🧡🥰 you make my happy with your videos 🙏🏼
Thank you! It's very kind of you to say so.
Hunted my entire life, a great deal of it at night all over the state. I had never seen a Ring tail myself until the late Winter of 2017. While recovering a downed feral hog just after dark along the Frio River near Fowlerton, TX, a ring tail heard the commotion and came over to visit on some nearby overhanging oak limbs. Got a little bit of grainy video but what a sight!
They are the most beautiful, graceful little creatures. They really are.
I'd love to know who you build the boxes the owls love. I can hear them hooting in the woods behind us and I live in a suburban area.
We haven't had that much luck with the owl/bird boxes, to be honest. Nicky the screech owl lives in the box in this video every winter, and we usually have little birds nesting in one other box, but most of them are empty.
Really like your camera set up and how they catch the action inside and out. Really interesting, thank you!
Thank you! We have a LOT of cameras.
I admit Batman is more catchy than Owlman, but Batman really has the characteristics of an owl.
That's an excellent point and it's a pity that "Owlman" won't fly.
I feed grey squirrels and I've seen ringtail tracks around. Sure enough I caught one and relocated him.. my squirrels are happier I can tell.
The ringtails are ferocious hunters. We have quite a few around. I can imagine that your squirrels are happy that you relocated your ringtail.
@Texas Backyard Wildlife as well as half a dozen red fox, 3 skunks😣, 2 raccoon, and 30-40 FARREL CATS🤬...
I have bird feeders too that attract all this trouble.. BEEPITY BEEP BEEP! (Hummingbird)
Now.. if I could just get rid of the neighbors 3 STUPID DOGS that bark ALL NIGHT at the STRAY CATS, the Deer might come back..
3 barking dogs and a bunch of stray cats? You have your work cut out for you. Good luck!
Ringtail what? Surely not a lemur. The only other ringtail I know of is a possum, which seems unlikely too.
Ringtails are American natives and cousins of the raccoons (though the only thing they seem to have in common is rings on their tails). They are about the size of small cats. Nocturnal, carnivorous (mainly), and very beautiful. Definitely not lemurs, though we agree with you that their faces are similar (big eyes and cute little ears).
@@TexasBackyardWildlife very similar to a Marten in appearance, size, behavior etc.
Fascinating, as always!
Thank you!
That was some nice work on the owl's part.
Yes. We wholeheartedly approved.
This really made me feel sorry for the squirrels 😞 🌈🐿🐿🐿🐿 For me that ringed tail is a villain like the cat 😕, unlike the cat, this one kills to eat. Here there are cats everywhere 😑
It was awful, Tierliebe. I got up that morning and looked at the squirrel box camera and there were 2 dead babies there. 2 had jumped out when the ringtail attacked and were killed on the ground. They were just a couple of days away from leaving the box and starting new lives. It was truly a tragedy. I wrote a story about what happened. It's on our website: texasbackyardwildlife.com/the-march-squirrel-family/
Well the owl 😊👍👍👍
Yes, that's what we thought.
Ring tails yeah, they’re nocturnal, if they get in you’re attic they’re loud at night, and they are hard to trap let alone find. I hate them
I love them. :3
@@SupersuMC SAME
Unfortunately mother nature can be so cruel even if i worship screech 🦉
Yes, very cruel. Poor little squirrels, and poor mama squirrel.
Nice footage
I am vengeance.. I am the night.. I. AM. NICKY!!!
All he needs is a theme song.
Owl's name should be Quicksilver like in the xmen.
He was a pretty fast flier. Quicksilver would have been a great name. We called him Nicky because he had a little nick in one eyelid, and when he was in the box we could easily recognize who he was.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife That makes sense ; I was wondering why it got that name.
I would like to see the footage of him hunting and eating the squirrels, even if it is brutal...
You're the second person to suggest that we should put it online - one day we will. I haven't even watched it myself, to be honest. We have the video, and I'll be happy to send you a link if you can email me at texasbackyardwildlife@gmail.com.
Good job Nicky
Yeah, we were pleased.
You have ringtails in Texas? Didn't know that.
Yes. In fact we just watched some video of one up in a nearby tree last night.
Faster than lightning! Love the little animals and their little love nest Motel. "house". Amazing 3 different species loved it too! Bet you even more huh...? I think I'm going to try and make one of those. A slide bottom to keep it clean when not in use. Do you clean yours?
We only occasionally clean the boxes. All the critters are very neat and tidy and they go outside to poo etc. Except for the ringtails, bless their ornery little hearts. They poo right in the box and then curl up beside it and go to sleep.
Amazing footage! 😎 Is there a way to see when the ring tail attacked the squirrels?
There is, Luis. If you email me at texasbackyardwildlife@gmail.com, I'll send you a link to the unlisted video. I haven't seen it myself but someone else requested it a while ago and Dan put it online. I'll be happy to share it with you.
You make it sound like Nicky was defending the racoons. Seems to me that Nicky was saying "Hey! Don't steal my food!"
It was squirrels, not raccoons, and actually what Nicky was doing was probably doing was defending his home. He lives in this box every winter and although he wasn't there in March, when this happened, perhaps he didn't like the idea of a ringtail's taking up residence? We do pretend that he was exacting revenge for the deaths of the little squirrels, but that's probably a stretch (my wishful thinking). Nicky is tiny, by the way, only the size of a soda can. He has never attempted to kill a squirrel, and definitely wouldn't even dream of killing a raccoon.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife I don't know why I typed raccoons. It must have been because I had just watched your video of the hollow tree and the two raccoons stuffing themselves into it.
I'll take your word on Nicky's intentions. I wasn't trying to tarnish her reputation. :o)
Ah! That makes sense. I was wondering where you got the idea that there had been a raccoon in the box. I'd forgotten about that hollow log video - isn't it funny? Raccoons will explore absolutely everything. They really make us laugh.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife Yes that was a particularly good video. I'm jealous of all the wildlife you have surrounding you. I'm in semi-rural Vermont and surrounded by lots of forest but haven't nearly the variety that you seem to have. I think maybe having so much woods around me is a detriment in getting to see them. My little trail cam has caught a couple of deer so far but that's it. I built an owl nest box a couple years ago, but so far no takers, although I have seen owls flying around a few times and hear them all the time.
If we didn't have so many cameras we wouldn't have any idea about most of the critters who pass through the backyard. We have about 50 cameras and we catch amazing things. I'm surprised that your trail camera hasn't caught more, though, if you are surrounded by forest. I bet it's beautiful where you are in Vermont.
Is that a ring-tailed civet?
It's a ringtail - sometimes called a ringtail cat, though they're not cats. They're related to raccoons. Apparently some people in these here parts do call them ringtail civets.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife Here in Australia a ringtail is a possum, much smaller and generally a herbivore with some eating of small insects etc. They're often food for powerful owls and similar birds.
Actually its Powerful Owls, note capitals, other people might think you mean strong raptors and similar Aves.
poor little creatures. nature is so rough.
Yes. We were really really really sad.
Do you think Nicky wants his house back?
Nicky used the box all winter - as usual - and left us again for parts unknown about a month ago. We miss him.
Poor Ringtail
Nice to see a vote for the ringtail. I was very sad to lose the baby squirrels, so I'm on Nicky's side, but the ringtail is just trying to make a living, just like the rest of us.
Joe pescis name was Nicky in goodfellas I think and owl Nicky is acting not too far off.
Interesting! Nicky is certainly a gutsy little owl. He sits in his box every day when he's with us over the winter and he looks cross most of the time. We are very fond of him.
Thanks for putting up so much quality content; viewing your uploads in toto will occupy me for a good long while. I am learning so much from your videos. I had never heard of a ringtail until now (I'm Australian-- in Australia a "ringtail " is a type of Aussie possum. Totally different to this Texan creature. Fascinating!)
PS do you think the owl clipped the ringtail with its talons, or did a wing strike? it was all so fast I couldn't tell. I dont suppose it did a beak strike, as owl's beaks are so short. In any case the hit-and-run worked like a charm. Owls sure have the upper hand at night, with their night vision and their silent flight -- even over creatures that are larger and better armed than themselves.
Hi there A24-45. Good to hear from you. I'm familiar with Australian possums (I'm from NZ, and we have them there, too). I'm not familiar with ringtail possums, but you're the second person to mention them. Will have to educate myself.
These ringtails here are common in the southwestern US. Some people call them ringtail cats, but actually they're related to raccoons (though they seem very, very different to me).
We think the little screech owl probably clipped the ringtail with his talons but it's hard to tell. Screech owls are tiny birds - sitting with their wings folded they're about the size of a Coke can - but they're effective hunters and very fast. I like to think that this owl, Nicky, was avenging the ringtail's massacre of 4 baby squirrels in this box a couple of nights before.
Look at that big boy. Ohh wait..I thought Lemurs were a South American thing?? I had no clue?
It's a ringtail. Native to the US. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_cat). Ringtails are related to raccoons, but they do look a bit lemur-like - those huge eyes and ears.
Where do you live ? I didn’t know we had ring tails in North America
We live in Austin, Texas. Ringtails are pretty common here. They're the state animal of Arizona (whatever that means) so they must have lots there, too.
Ring tail opossum?
Ringtails are related to raccoons (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_cat). They are beautiful and graceful - and very effective predators. They can kill a family of baby squirrels in minutes. For a better view of a ringtail, take a look at this texasbackyardwildlife.com/ringtail-eating-a-yellowjacket-2/. It's daylight footage so you can see the ringtail better.
Ringtails belong to which animal group ? They remind me of the South American racoon cousin the coati, but their face look different. It's the only mammal in your videos that we don't see up here in Canada
They are related to raccoons, so I'm sure your observation is correct. Their behavior is totally different from raccoon behavior, though. They hunt, which we don't see the raccoons do (though I'm sure they can) and they are very slender and unbelievably agile and fast. The raccoons are a bit more ponderous.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife thanks for the reply !
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
And thank you again!
amazing as Screech owls are small guys! so glad he knew how to (hope!) banish that ringtail. not that familiar with them (ringtails) but obviously a predator that likes any available nest snack; likely owlets would be acceptable as well. a great shame about the squirrel family.
We mourned the squirrel family for days. Another commenter has said that she creates open nesting spots for squirrels so they can't get trapped the way this family did - there would always be a way for some of the little ones to escape. It's a great idea. We wrote a story about the squirrels: texasbackyardwildlife.com/the-march-squirrel-family/
@@TexasBackyardWildlife thanks for answering & for that link! so miss living where there was just loads of wild life (east coast US so different native species generally). So sorry you saw all of that (and of course cannot intervene in your situation with your cams).
Not gonna lie I thought he meant Ringtail Lemur.
No lemurs here in Austin. But I can see the resemblance.
Nicky must've learned that attack from my ex.
Not familiar with ringtails.
They are in the raccoon 🦝 family
Some people call them ringtail cats (though they're not cats, they're related to raccoons)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_cat. They are beautiful little animals - graceful and sleek - but they're fearsome predators. We've lost 2 nest of baby squirrels to ringtails. We know they've got to eat, but still, we were very sad.
Did Nicky eat the ringtail?
No, he's way too small to try to kill a ringtail, but he did give it a serious frigiht.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife oh, gotcha lol I was just wondering if that’s why you never saw the ringtail again. Thanks for the info!
We see ringtails all over the place, but now that you mention it, we still (a couple of years later) have never seen one back at that box. Nicky our screech owl is back in residence again; he arrived on October 4th. We have him on the live stream - though at the moment he's standing in the dark and just looks like a little lump.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife thanks! I subscribed a few days back after finding your channel so I’ll definitely be tuning in periodically. It’s really cool to see all the different wildlife you come across there
You should upload the video of the ringtail eating the squirrels. With a disclaimer of course but i think it would be interesting to see.
We have it, and we could share it with you privately, but it's pretty gory. We don't even like to look at it ourselves. We do agree with you though that it would be educational, and we've debated putting it live for that reason.
Getting back for hurting the pet squirrels
Yes! That's what we like to think.
Just off-camera Nikki may have killed that fox
No chance of that. Nicky is only about the size of a coke can. He can just about kill a mouse. Mainly we see him bring home tiny songbirds - a bit of a tragedy really.
1-800-STAY-OUT
Yep.
Saw an Australian possum kicking the crap out of a small but solid terrier once, had the dog
on the ground and was mauling him bad until the owner of the dog whacked the possum, that
pissed me off, the possum was a bit smaller than the dog and was winning fair and square...
Really? Wow. I've never heard of an Australian possum attacking anything. In NZ, they are considered to be noxious pests because they eat the native birds' eggs and strip the buds off the trees, but I had no idea they could be aggressive. They're actually beautiful little animals.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife Nooo, the dog attacked the Possum, but the Possum fought back and was creaming it...
Up until that a**hole hit it with a stick...
Ring-tail what?
It's technically just called a ringtail. Some people call these animals "ringtail cats" but they're not cats. They are related to raccoons.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife Thank you for your informative and courteous reply. I love learning new stuff--even in my....uh.....advanced years. lol!!
Our years are advancing pretty rapidly too, @agwbcfjc2!!
Cacomixtle.
Yep.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you!