Hannah Baillie never thought she would become an owl expert, but thanks to an unexpected encounter about a week ago, she’s about to be.
“What I learned is that they are prey animals and they will attack you whether they want to or not,” she said.
The avid runner was on Halifax’s Chain of Lake trails around dusk when she first spotted the barred owl dive and land in a tree. She even took a photo of the bird because she had never seen one in the wild before.
Hannah Baillie took this photo of an owl, circled in red, that she spotted while jogging on a trail in Halifax.
Supplied/Hannah Baillie
But then the owl attacked her – not once, but twice.
“It was about 30 minutes after that I felt something hit the back of my head, it kind of felt like someone who had really long nails was scraping them on the back of my scalp and then pulled on my ponytail at the same time,” she said
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She turned around and “made eye contact” with the owl, before it flew off and landed on a nearby branch.
She attributed it to an accident. After all, maybe the bird was chasing prey and accidentally hit it.
But then it happened again.
“About five minutes later the same thing happened again. And with a little more force, like it was a little stronger the second time,” she explained.
Baillie contacted the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and was put in touch with wildlife technician Butch Galvez.
“I kind of dragged him into this media storm, which I honestly didn’t expect either,” she said with a laugh.
Through their discussions, they determined that the bird was either territorial or had mistaken Baillie’s ponytail for prey. Regardless, what happened is pretty rare.
“In the one instance where, you know, it hit Hannah’s head or made contact, that would be rare,” said Galvez, who adds that he has had “only a handful” of reports of this type over the last decade.
Since telling their story, Baillie and Galvez have heard of two other people who encountered an owl on the same trail. It may be the same bird.
“Sometimes it’s presented as aggression or an attack, but usually it happens in late winter, spring, when they’re in nesting mode,” Galvez said.
“But there have been cases in the fall where barred owls have dive bombed and in some cases inflicted minor injuries in Canada and the United States. Again, this is not common, but it would certainly be terrifying if you were jogging on a trail and all of a sudden something hit you in the back of the head.
In Baillie’s case, the owl only scratched her and did not break her skin, so she did not seek medical attention. Galvez says owls have sharp claws, so if the skin is broken, he advises people to see a medical professional to prevent infection.
As for preventing future owl attacks, he says people should be aware of their surroundings and perhaps avoid ponytails and pom-pom hats that can be mistaken for small prey.
Baillie says she will also think twice before deciding where she will go from now.
“The best way to prevent something from happening again is to simply avoid the area.” Especially now that I know other people have had the same experience. And luckily, there are plenty of areas to run in Halifax. So I’m going to stick to a more urban area,” she said.
Galvez asks anyone who has a similar encounter with an owl to contact the DNR so they can monitor the situation.
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