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caching behavior in Barred Owls



C-birders,

This evening I observed for the first time in my Barred Owl odyssey, the
caching of food by a provisioned individual. I just successfully encountered
this particular owl yesterday when it responded to my taped broadcast. Today
it appeared at the "meeting place" perhaps in response to my whistling at
5:30. After consuming the first two mice (I'm inclined to think its a
female, as any male bird worth his territory would have taken mice to his
female) the owl took the 3rd mouse and stashed it in a clump of leaves that
resembled a squirrel's nest. It then immediately flew back to its quickly
established customary perch in expectation of another mouse. When I obliged,
it came down, seized the mouse, and then flew up to a tree branch and tucked
the mouse under a piece of bark. I wonder if owls and other predators are in
a "take it while its there" mode or else are they "savin'up for hard times"?
We all know what shrikes do, and obviously there are advantages to be gained
for woodpeckers, nuthatches, and other seed caching birds, but a carnivorous
bird storing soon-to-spoil flesh?? Anyone else know of food caching in
raptors?

Eric Harrold
Barred Owl researcher
Charlotte, NC