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By Conor It was sundown and Duncan (a male Snowy Owl) and Michelle (a female Snowy Owl) were just getting up from their day-long nap. Michelle had 5 tail bands. As for Duncan, he only had 2 tail bands. Michelle was also more heavily marked than Duncan was. Both Michelle and Duncan were pure white. They had a dark barring under their wings. Michelle was still a bit drowsy but Duncan was up and ready for the night ahead of him. This was because he had until midnight to go hunting, but after that he was to guard the nest, unless of course Michelle allowed him to hunt for the whole night, which wasn’t likely. “Eeeeeeehhhhhhh! Eeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Duncan screamed. Which translated into English is “Up and at ‘em!” As soon as Michelle was up and ready to guard the nest, Duncan flew away. When he was about one kilometre away, he started hunting. It was damp and foggy. “Aw, Michelle gets the better hunting time,” thought Duncan. This wasn’t very true. It was just Michelle’s luck that her turn tonight was after midnight. Despite the bad conditions, Duncan was having a great hunting period. He had caught muskrats, squirrels, rabbits, moles, birds and even carrion. Just then Duncan spotted a Snow Shoe Hare through the trees. Duncan lunged. He flew at an alarming rate. His talons dug deeply into the flesh of the Snow Shoe Hare. He did a back flip, and then another, and kept doing back flips until the Snow Shoe Hare was exhausted. Then with a simple twitch of his beak, Duncan broke the Snow Shoe Hare’s neck. He looked at it greedily. Just as he was about to take a mouth-watering bite, he heard a screeching sound. It was Michelle and she was in trouble. Duncan flew as fast as he could back to the nest. He flew past other prey, ignoring them even though it was still his hunting time. He flew through trees and bushes until he was so tired that all he wanted to do was land on the ground or on the branch of a tree and rest. But there was no time for that because Michelle was in trouble. Finally he reached the nest, but he couldn’t see a thing because of the fog. Duncan wasn’t completely sure it was the right nest but he was pretty sure. Just to clarify that he was at the nest and what was happening Duncan called out with his loudest call. “Eeehhhh! Eeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh!” he screeched. “What’s happening?” To Duncan’s luck there was a reply and the reply was “Eeeehh! Skua!” “Eeehhh! Eeehhhhhhh! Eh! Eehh!” replied Duncan. “What should I do?” “Eeehh! Eeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh! Eeeeeeehhh! The Snow Shoe Hare!” answered Michelle. “Eeeeeeeeeeeeh! eeeehhhhhh? What about it?” asked Duncan. "Eeeh! Eeeehhhhh! Give it to them,” replied Michelle. Duncan flew up to the Skua and lightly tapped its back to get the Skua’s attention. He held out the Snow Shoe Hare and the Skua snatched at it. The Skua ate the Snow Shoe Hare greedily and left. Michelle’s hunting time was well over, so she flew off over the horizon and disappeared.
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