uh-oh !
 

. . . what's about to happen?

early lunch

Owls are almost, but not quite, perfect predators.

Squirrels are almost, but not quite, naive prey.

The owl's squirrel meal is not a given.

Ospreys preying on fish is as close to 100% as any predator/prey ratio I can think of, but owls are darn good.

[QUOTE=Stan Hillis;342021]Ospreys preying on fish is as close to 100% as any predator/prey ratio I can think of, but owls are darn good.[


We have had an active and annually very successful osprey nest on the little island in front of my cottage here in Maine for as long as I can remember. We built the place in ‘63 - ‘64.
I can assure you that ospreys can only hope to be successful in about 25% - 35% of their dives.





.

The Chesapeake Bay is lousy with Ospreys. I'm not sure of their success rate but am amazed at how they can hit the water and emerge, with or without their prey, and with a simple shake fly off to soar again in search of their next attempt.
What we do have around here is the Peregrine Falcon. Not that's a awesome predator.

In my area of Vt the ultimate avian predator is the goshawk.





.

While teaching a youth fly fishing class, while about a dozen teachers and students were in the water, an osprey came down in the middle of that yelling, screaming, rod smashing melee and took out about a 12" brownie.

Here in Alaska the most successful avian predator by far is the MOSQUITO!! Eat your hearts out!!