AN OWL WITH A BUILT-IN MICROWAVE OVEN.
Following are eight images showing the owl retrieving lunch (a vole or mouse), then heating it up (unthawing it) before settling down to eat it. Several times through lunch the vole is put back into the oven/microwave for some further thawing out.
Top Image:With some assistance from a pair of crows, we found the owl perched high in a tree. After we watched it for awhile,.............
.....................the owl suddenly dove down and ..............
..........retrieved something from one of its caches typically used to store previously caught food. From my vantage point, I could not identify what it had retrieved. It then flew off towards some woods.
After some searching, we found the owl again perched on a branch. It appeared to be just sitting there fluffed-up against the cold. But.........................
..........it suddenly opened up the oven door to check on lunch, a mouse or vole. Apparently it was not cooked (unthawed) well enough yet as...............
........the owl immediately closed the oven door again and remained perched, all fluffed-up, for considerable time. Then,...............
......it opened up the door again to seemingly test lunch for readiness, much the same way one pokes a fork into a Thanksgiving turkey to see if it is cooked and ready to eat. Apparently it was, or at least some of it was as the owl started to eat. It ate for awhile, but decided the vole wasn't fully ready yet and it was placed back into the oven.
Another period of waiting/cooking/unthawing until finally...........
......lunch was deemed to be ready. From the owl's facial expression, it appeared to be delicious.
Note: The process of thawing out was repeated several times, until finally, with half the mouse consumed, the owl decided to swallow the remaining half whole. It managed to do so with some extreme difficulty. I suspect this last half was still frozen.
See http://www.pbase.com/image/167041641 for part 2 of SERIES.
These Owls and some other northern owls, like the Boreal Owl, typically may have several caches where they store excess food to be retrieved later.
