Photo by mosley.brian

We can take solace in the fact that we’re not getting attacked by beavers, but it seems that we should be watching for another predator—owls. Yesterday a runner wrote of his recent experience with an owl in Rock Creek Park near the Maryland border in a letter to the Post:

On Aug. 30, I was running alone when a bird came from behind and clawed my head. I turned and saw a barred owl sitting on a phone line right above me. I assumed that the bird thought I was prey. I got a really good look at it: It just sat there, which I thought was odd. I expected it to be shy.

I turned my back and started to run again. A second later, the animal hit me again. I was wearing a headlamp, and there’s a scratch on the battery case now that I’ll blame on the bird, although I can’t be sure. It flew into the lower branches of a tree by the sidewalk on the other side of the street. We stared at each other. I walked past the tree and found it looking at me from the other side.

I walked backward down the street. The owl flew straight at me, wings and talons outstretched. It looked just like a nature program when the owl is about to hit its prey, except it wasn’t in slow motion and it was coming at me. I waved my arms and hissed, and he turned and landed on the wires again. He watched me as I backed down the street.

According to experts that the writer spoke to, the owl may well have been rescued and then set free, leaving them without the capacity to hunt and with the idea that humans are food. (Needless to say, owls do not make good pets.)

If you’re to be ready for the inevitable confrontation between humans and those winged beasts of the night, we recommend always carrying a tennis racket handy. It’s you or them, people!