Attacked By an Owl!

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Around this time of year, crows are nesting and being very protective of their babies. I've been dive-bombed and sometimes hit by crazy crows at least once every spring for several years. A mailman witnessed it once, and told me that's why he wore a pith helmet.
I've talked to a couple of people who've been struck by owls down at Green Lake.

betsio on April 10, 2013 at 9:14 AM

Oh dear. I think this Yelp review reading (about customer attacked by a black bird) was actually posted on Slog last week, but it was all I could think about while reading this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkyVDwDng…

Tracy on April 10, 2013 at 9:45 AM

God help you when they bill you for the coinsurance. Most insurance plans I've had only pay 100% for ER visits if you're admitted to the hospital, to try to encourage you to only go if you're deathly ill. You'd probably have been better off going to an Urgent Care center.

Orv on April 10, 2013 at 11:59 AM

There was a better likelihood of that owl giving you a winning lottery ticket than of it giving you rabies. Transmission via birds is extremely rare. Although owls can acquire rabies antibodies after consuming infected carcases their high body temps effectively contain the virus. It's really just a mammal disease.

I suppose it could have just dug its talons into an infected skunk and then dug them into your skull but 22K sounds like a steep price for anyone to pay just to be extra "safe than sorry".

Incompossible on April 10, 2013 at 12:36 PM

There was a better likelihood of that owl giving you a winning lottery ticket than of it giving you rabies. Transmission via birds is extremely rare. Although owls can acquire rabies antibodies after consuming infected carcasses their high body temps effectively contain the virus. It's really just a mammal disease.

I suppose it could have just dug its talons into an infected skunk and then dug them into your skull but 22K sounds like a steep price for anyone to pay just to be extra "safe than sorry".

Incompossible on April 10, 2013 at 12:37 PM

It was BOB!

on April 10, 2013 at 1:30 PM

Andrew, I was also o-bombed in Frink park. Jogging at dusk last fall, no headphones, no ponytail. Head barely bloodied. Scared the holy pellets out of me. Needless to say my head is on a swivel whenever I go back through there.

Jables on April 10, 2013 at 7:21 PM

Apart from the usefulness of the info, I just stopped by here to say that the piece was well written and fun to read. I also enjoyed the artwork.

floater on April 10, 2013 at 10:59 PM

You eat raw pork? No...that is not safe. Did you miss high school biology or what?

Bauhaus I on April 11, 2013 at 7:31 AM

Oh man. We have Barred and Barn owls. The Barn owls conversations are quite hair raising. Blood curdling screams. And the Barred owl? All night with that haunting hoo-hoooo. I watched that guy try to catch, I swear to god, the last douglas squirrel in MLT.( Those little guys are bad ass, and look like chipmunks on steroids). The Barred owl tried to swoop for my puppy long ago. But then, so did that Douglas squirrel. Sorry about your noggin. Glad you didn't shit your britches. But I don't believe that would've stopped you in your quest for bacon.

misssmartypants on April 11, 2013 at 4:25 PM

Delightful tale of urban hazards. Yes... there are Barred Owls in Frink Park and a hardhat might be the right choice. One of the local neighbors was also swooped upon recently at night..... and lost his baseball cap to the Owl. I think a malt liquor he was drinking helped to steady his nerves and protect him from bird flu.

on April 11, 2013 at 4:49 PM

Sounds like some owls could use a healthy fear of humans. Bring me my owl bat.

MacCrocodile on April 12, 2013 at 12:53 PM

Re eating raw pork: Trichinosis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis

Gern Blanston on April 12, 2013 at 1:11 PM

I’m betting eating raw pork is much more dangerous than being hit by an owl. I’d be much more worried about Trichinosis than Rabies.

You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on April 12, 2013 at 1:11 PM

the owls are not what they seem.

on April 12, 2013 at 1:27 PM

$22,000 isn't too bad, considering you may now be eligible for some sort of honorary degree.

"Dude, let me borrow the armor. I'm going on a bacon run."

Dougsf on April 12, 2013 at 1:27 PM

OMG. Over here in good old europe, I gave birth and stayed in the hospital for 4 days (2 beds per room, great, freshly cooked food, visitsnfrom the doc and nurses a couple times a day) and it only cost me about 7500 dollars. WTH? Anyway, love the writing.

ylene on April 12, 2013 at 1:34 PM

If only you'd watched the documentary "Owls of Ga'Hoole"! I mean, it is a documentary right?

ArtBasketSara on April 12, 2013 at 1:42 PM

@4/5 It doesn't sound like Andrew was worried about rabies transmission from an owl but worried that there was a slim chance he may have been struck/bitten by a bat. With 100% fatality rate for untreated rabies bites, I'd say 20K is worth it.

TBne on April 12, 2013 at 1:56 PM

I've been dive-bombed by crows on Queen Anne. It's terrifying. And light doesn't seem to bother them. Thanks for sharing!

PamAmI on April 12, 2013 at 2:02 PM

Who did the artwork? I want.

jen on April 12, 2013 at 2:23 PM

I was divebombed by a crow a couple of years ago on Elliott Ave as it passes under the Sculpture Park, as I walked to work in the morning. It didn't draw blood, luckily.

I think the birds are just biding their time until the avian revolution, when finally they can depose their simian overlords.

Cascadian on April 12, 2013 at 2:47 PM

On 12th Ave last year I was walking with three other people on our way to breakfast one morning and the other three people got relentlessly dive-bombed by a pair of huge crows. Block after block. Every few steps one of my friends would leap for cover, hands waving about comically, screaming.

But the crows completely ignored me. I just stood there laughing.

So I started yelling after my panicked friends: "KILL THEM, MY BEAUTIES! KILL THEM! PECK OUT THIER EYES! HAHAHA!!!"

And then one of the crows took a heaping shit on my shoulder.

tkc on April 12, 2013 at 3:44 PM

Owls, schmowls. It's the crows you need to watch out for, because they're in every neighborhood. I used to love the crows, but I'm tired of being strafed. The first time, I thought the crow was worried about a nest, but the last two times, I've been walking while munching on baked goods (Fresh Flours --- can't wait to bite into their delectables). Each time, the crow pursued me until I managed to hide/devour the goods. I don't know what the plan was...a talon to the scalp to make me drop my muffin?

on April 12, 2013 at 5:23 PM

This is why I always say a polite "hey, crow" whenever I pass near one. And I haven't been attacked… yet.

philaros on April 12, 2013 at 5:47 PM

Not only is Australian health care cheap, our pigs don't have trichinosis.

Repeat on April 12, 2013 at 11:45 PM

Barely even slightly better than his awful music reviews for the Times.

inquiastador on April 13, 2013 at 8:31 PM

Great. All the hipsters will flood Frink Park now.

Or not. Because you said Central District. And there's a lot of black people here.

(Read: War on Taxis)

on April 13, 2013 at 9:11 PM

Owl attacks...just in time for the 50-year anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". Yikes--scary is right! Sorry that happened to you, Andrew, but I'm glad to hear you're okay.

This is going just slightly off topic, but could the increasing number of urban owl attacks have anything to do with something they ate? A true case (NOT Daphne DuMaurier's short story that took place in the English Moors), that took place in Monterey Bay, California in 1961, which inspired Hitchcock's avian studded 1963 horror flick with Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy and the ill-fated Suzanne Pleshette, reported flocks of seagulls and other shorebirds that had smashed into windows of homes and businesses after the birds became poisoned from eating toxic shellfish in polluted nearby waters.
Hedren really was attacked by real LIVE birds in that attic, and at age 83, wishes she could have sued the eerily obsessive Hitchcock for every dime he had.

This sounds like a good argument for re-examining the water quality in King County, and cleaning up Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Puget Sound!

auntie grizelda on April 14, 2013 at 5:31 PM

Bacon isn't raw meat. You can eat it without cooking it.

jack chandelier on April 15, 2013 at 5:41 AM

As a long time barred owl observer, I suspect it mistook your pigtails and the sound of the headsets as prey. Owls use sound more than sight to find prey. I suspect most (if not all) attacks by barred owls involve headphones. If this owl was attacking the person, it would have clawed the person, not her pigtails.

OwlGuy on April 15, 2013 at 3:52 PM

If you're interested in the lovely owl art by Hyunyoung Kim, go to callmekim.com and look for the link to the "About Hyunyoung" page. There's contact info at the bottom of the page.

Aaron Huffman on April 15, 2013 at 6:38 PM

Twenty two grand?! Jesus, America. Get universal healthcare already. I know in your case you said your benefits covered it, but it's still ridiculous.

on April 16, 2013 at 4:15 PM

Just wait until you get bitten by a rattlesnake, hipsters. 22 grand is cheap compared to what the antivenin will cost you.

Unbrainwashed on April 16, 2013 at 10:28 PM

22,000 for shots? It wont be long before the medical establishmwnt collapses under its own overbloated financial weight. Not good when over 25% of this country's GDP is wrapped up in healthcare.

Seattlebcc on April 17, 2013 at 6:42 AM

uhh...This was perhaps the stupidiest story I have ever read in the Stranger. Andrew is a complete idiot and self-obsessed twat. Your doctor said not to worry about getting rabies from an owl, but noooo you insisted, calling to get anyone to agree with you, even though you found out that owl attacks are common but NO ONE gets rabies shots after. You racked up completely retarded and unnecessary charges to your health insurance- thus making it more expensive for the rest of us. Congratulations on being a complete douchbag.

adrmag on April 19, 2013 at 9:14 AM

@20 a typical bat weighs less than half an ounce and a barred owl weighs about 2 lbs. The owl weighs 100 times the bat!

While I completely agree that being bitten by a bat is a serious rabies risk based on the description of the attack there was zero possibility of it being a bat.

Additionally bat bites are often painless, which is why if you wake up in a room with a bat it's best to test it for rabies as it might have bitten you while you were sleeping, and it does not ever feel like being stabbed with scissors.

Incompossible on April 19, 2013 at 10:29 AM

Just wanted to chime in and say I was walking through a greenspace outside of Boston tonight when I was dive-bombed twice by a barred owl. Scared the shit out of me. I did have a bright headlamp on. It felt like someone threw a rotten fruit at my head. In my WTF reaction, I knocked my headlamp off, and it went out, leaving me in the dark, feeling around for my lamp with my adrenaline flowing. When I found the lamp and turned it back on, I started walking quickly, looking around for bats (which I had seen earlier, so I suspected them). That's when I saw the owl, trying for me again, but swooping about two feet above my head, and then landing on a branch about 15 feet above me to the right. I shined the light at it and howld and yapped like an ape to give it the impression that I was the one that should be eating it and not vice versa. Owl didn't give a shit; it stared back at me like it was a scientist. Finally I shouted, "Fuck you, Owl!" and walked quickly away. But in my mind, I was actually quite happy and excited and amped on adrenaline. I was wearing a baseball hat, so I didn't get cut. The end.

on September 25, 2014 at 11:31 PM

Very interesting post! However, the owl pictured is a barn owl, NOT a barred owl. Glad the author is okay - I'm owl-crazy, and worked with them at a rehab center for many years, so we did hear a lot of stories like this! There are true stories of people losing eyes to attacking owls! They're neat birds, but they do pack a whollop when you're in their territory!

MissusPete on February 17, 2015 at 4:55 PM

Attacked By an Owl!

I Was on a Walk Through a Park at Dusk When I Got Punched in the Back of the Head with Flying Scissors—At Least, That's What It Felt Like

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I Was on a Walk Through a Park at Dusk When I Got Punched in the Back of the Head with Flying Scissors—At Least, That's What It Felt Like

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