Do Owls Eat Squirrels?

Being opportunistic carnivores, owls consume all those animals they can grab.

And so, squirrels are but just another delicacy on their menus.

Therefore, 

Do Owls Attack Squirrels?

They most certainly do.

Now, squirrels are rather fast animals with speeds typically exceeding 32km/hour.

Their noses are sharp enough to sniff out nuts that they had buried months ago. 

Additionally, squirrel eyes are located on either side of their face, thereby allowing them a better view of their surroundings.

Which means, one can claim that:

‘Hunting a squirrel is harder than capturing other rodents.’

It appears as if an owl would need extraordinary luck to even find a squirrel, much more to eat one.

However, contrary to all such beliefs,

Owls actively hunt for squirrels, making these rodents as much as 30% of their total diet.

But you may more interested in knowing how an owl even manages such a feat.

Or say, 

How Does An Owl Attack a Squirrel?

By being sneaky in approach and flawless in its strike. 

The deed occurs in the following three steps:

1. Marking the Prey

A perched owl starts scanning the area for prey, by simply moving its head around 270 degrees.

If the owl manages to locate a preferred game through vision, it looks no further. 

However, prey animals tend to take cover under leaves, rocks, and sometimes even snow. 

Therefore, owls have to frequently rely on their sense of hearing to find quarry. 

Now, unlike most animals, owl ears are crooked with one located at a higher and rather forward position compared to the other.

This causes a split-second difference in hearing in both ears. 

Owls can determine not only the direction but also the exact distance of an escaping prey.

In fact, owls can accurately seize down their prey below as much as one meter-thick ice sheet.

Furthermore, the entire owl face is shaped like a dish to capture even the minutest of sounds, essentially giving the owl parabolic hearing capacity. 

2. Capturing the Squirrel

After locating their prey, owls fly-dive at the precise spot with extreme force to grab the victim. 

The movement is often so quick that the squirrel dies without even realizing what hit it. 

Now, You may be wondering: 

“Wasn’t that squirrel supposed to sense the presence of an owl?”

Well, the squirrel did catch the whiff, only for the owl was to be too fast.

You see, an owl has a thick blanket of serrated- feathers, making its flight mute.

Therefore, owls can easily sneak up on any animal including squirrels.

Have a look at this video to see how quiet they fly – It’s amazing honestly!

Furthermore, owls dive at their victims directly from above, therefore, most squirrels are unable to see the incoming raptor.

By the time squirrels smell the diving owl from above, it’s usually too late.

Once the owl seizes a squirrel, it covers the victim with its wings to stop any sound of struggle from capturing attention.

In some cases,

If the squirrel is large enough to fight back, the owl strikes its neck first to paralyze it.

That said, if an owl happens upon a squirrel’s nesting site, it decapitates the entire family.

This ensures that nobody runs away while the owl eats to its fill.

3. Consuming the Prize

Now, owls have piercing beaks that can rip apart flesh.

They do eat only the meaty portion of squirrels, leaving fur and bones aside.

Even so,

Most owls prefer to gulp down entire squirrels in a single go.

In such cases, owls regurgitate bones and fur in their distinct White Pellets – the leftovers often studied by ornithologists as the only sign of an owl’s presence in a region.

Since owls are nocturnal creatures, you may as well be wondering:

Do Owls Eat Squirrels At Night? 

They do, but an owl eating a squirrel is not strictly limited to nighttime.

You see, an owl has the largest eyes for any animal of relative size.

These support a high number of photoreceptor cells as well as a reflective retina, allowing owls to clearly see even in the dimmest of lights (See the article, “Can Owls See in the Day” for further details). 

Additionally, an owl’s excellent hearing allows it to easily map its prey’s location.

Therefore,

However, squirrels are diurnal mammals that can only see during the day.

Consequently, squirrels are active from dawn to dusk, with obscure vision at sunset as well as sunrise.  

The ideal time for an owl to hunt a squirrel is around dusk when squirrels are hurrying back to their burrows.

Therefore, most owls eat squirrels at night.

However, 

If an owl ends up encountering a squirrel at midday, it will definitely eat the unfortunate rodent.

Besides, owls don’t actually build nests.

Instead, they occupy some other animal’s nest by eating the previous residents.

So, maybe the owl that just ate up an entire squirrel family this afternoon was just looking for a place to crash.

Still, owls often hunt squirrels to feed their young ones.

So, if you were wondering,

Do Baby Owls Eat Squirrels?

They do, but only when their parents feed them one.

All this information leads to another question, say:

Are Squirrels Frightened Of Owls?

They are but not as much as one would estimate.

You see, squirrels are afraid of owls, but then, they are not alone to feel that way.

Every animal in the wild sees owls as avian freaks that must be avoided at all costs.

Why?

Well, owls’ nocturnal habits and sneaky assassinations do make them scary.

However, most animals fear owls because of their unpredictability. 

Surely, owls didn’t open up to some psychotherapist, so how do we know they don’t feel fear? 

Now, you must understand that birds have limited brain space. 

However, most of an owl’s skull space is occupied by its eyes, and the little brain it does have is wired for hunting.

Therefore, owls had to give up Dorsal Ventricular Ridge (DVR) – part of the avian brain responsible for thinking. 

And so, owls cannot see the consequences of their actions, making them fearless.

Now, squirrels do fear owls, as they should.

But, 

Squirrels don’t fear owls as much as one might think they would.

So, let’s ask:

Why Are Squirrels Only Moderately Scared Of Owls?

Because they have been repeatedly exposed to this fear, making them kinda numb to it,

You see, squirrels live in the wild where every other carnivore finds them delicious.

Every single day is a war for survival. 

For a squirrel, a walk in the park may mean meeting Mr. Hawks or evading Mrs. Fox, Running away from Dorky Cats, fending off Bullying Crows, and well, going nuts over Nuts. 

Therefore, it does not make much difference if a creepy Owl joins the crowd and starts stalking the Squirrel.

Imagine escaping predators every single day for centuries to the point you evolve and become desensitized to feeling much fear. 

That explains why a squirrel does not overreact to the presence of any predator including owls.

Perhaps, you were looking up the owl-squirrel relationship only because someone told you to get an owl dummy to deter squirrels on your lawn.

But in my experience, 

Owls Decoys are Not Efficient in Controlling Squirrels.

Why?

Because squirrels can tell if something is fake as it’s not moving much.

So, for an owl decoy to work one must change its location, play some owl sounds around and alter its body posture. 

Since it’s too much work, nobody really does that, thereby making the owl decoy a failure. 

If you must, I have a few other squirrel repellent suggestions for you:

1. Filling tree holes and removing potential Squirrel nesting sites.
2. Water Sprinklers.
3. Supersonic squirrel repellents.
4. Chemical treatment such as Peppermint spray, or Cayenne Pepper Chillies in Water.
5. Commercial chemical squirrel repellents also work as they often contain substances from fox urine.

Anyways, you may be curious if all owl species hunt squirrels or say,

Type Of Owls that Eat Squirrels 

Now, there are about 230 species of owls, with only 18 accounting for Barn Owls (Tytonidae) and the rest for True owls (Strigidae).

However, whether an owl eats a squirrel depends only on its ability to over-power the rodent.

Therefore,

Normally, only medium to large-sized owls hunt for squirrels.

Here is a list of owls that commonly devour squirrels.

Owl Specie	Body Mass	Habitat	Remarks
Spotted Owls	570-760g	Prefer dense, mature forests.	Eat all kinds of animals, with flying squirrels making up to 30% of their total diet.
Barred Owls	800g	Live in thick forests.	Frequently consume pine squirrels, tree squirrels, & flying squirrels.
Ural Owls	1 kg	Prefer deciduous forests with clearings.	Often eat tree squirrels and red squirrels.
Great Horned Owls	2-2.5kg	Extremely adaptable species that can live in mountains, forests, rocky coasts, swamps, and even urban lands.	Usually, eat flying squirrels and ground squirrels.
Great Grey Owls	1-1.6kg	Mostly Conifer forests.	Mostly eat voles but do hunt squirrels if they must.
Barn Owls	620g	Farmlands and Pastures.	Have been reported to eat Flying and Ground squirrels.
Snowy Owls	1.8-3kg	Tundra	Frequently consume Richardson’s ground squirrels.
Burrowing Owls	200-500g	Burrows in arid lands.	Often take over squirrel burrows and therefore, eat resident squirrel families.
Boreal Owls	200g	Boreal forests.	Mostly baby squirrels, but sometimes Northern Flying squirrels.
Tawny Owls	800g	Woodlands, but sometimes urban parks.	Regularly eat grey squirrels.
Long-Eared Owls	430g	Woodlands.	Rarely hunt for squirrels.
Eurasian Eagle Owls	1.5-2.8kg	Rocky Cliffs and forests.	Eat squirrels as a supplementary diet.

A few other species have also been found consuming owls in isolated instances,

1. Northern Pygmy Owls
2. White-faced owls
3. Hawk Owls

Again, owls don’t just rely on squirrels. 

So you may be curious about

Other Animals Owls Eat

Being opportunistic carnivores, owls can eat any available animal. 

A list of owl prey includes

Owl Prey	Typical Examples
Invertebrates	Crabs, Beetles, Caterpillars, Earthworms, Spiders, Grasshoppers, Moths, Crayfish, Scorpions, and Centipedes.
Fish	Silversides, Catfish, Minnows, Sunfish.
Amphibians	Salamanders, Frogs, Toads.
Reptiles	Snakes, Lizars, Anolis, Geckos, Turtles.
Birds	Goose, Blackbirds, Crows, Ducks, Warblers, Mockingbirds, Doves, Swallows, Thrushes, Jays, Sparrows, Flycatchers, Finches, Starlings, Waxwings, Woodpeckers, Falcons, Pigeons, Cuckoos.
Mammals	Chipmunks, Rabbits, Bats, Mice, Opossums, Shrews, Skinks, Foxes, Squirrels, Voles, Marmots, Raccoons, Skunks, Prairie Dogs, Cats, Lemmings.

Wrapping Up

Owls actively hunt for squirrels at night but they can also eat squirrels during the day.

While some species eat squirrels as their major food source, however, most eat squirrels as their supplementary diet.