Richard was good at talking, but it didn't know that the crisis was coming. The claws of the owl were very sharp. Once it was caught and taken away, it would be in big trouble.
Zhang Zian swung his hiking stick. Originally, he had only wanted to scare the owl away, but by a fluke, he had hit the owl squarely. Perhaps it had thought that he was a rock and was not prepared for it. Anyway, it had been hit so hard that it fell straight to the ground from the air.
Without waiting for it to turn over and take off again, Fina ran over quickly and pressed her claws on it.
"Which evildoer dares to try to assassinate me?" Richard finally reacted. Although it was afraid, its mouth was still busy.
Zhang Zian was actually lucky to hit it. Owls were not good at flying, but they were good at being silent. Before the prey could react, they had already quietly approached. If it weren't for the cats that heard the very slight movement and responded, he definitely wouldn't have noticed its arrival.
He put on gloves to prevent it from scratching him, then squatted down and picked it up from under Fina's claws to take a closer look. He found that it was an endangered spotted owl.
This kind of owl only inhabited the forests on the west coast of North America. It was seriously threatened by human activities, wildfires, and the invasion of alien species. Its population was decreasing day by day. The United States had even introduced a strict "Northwest Forest Act" for it, which greatly curbed deforestation in northern California and Oregon.
As its name indicated, its white feathers were distributed with very regular brown spots, especially around its eyes. The spots formed a circle of rings around its two eyes. When it was motionless, its body looked like an overweight quail.
However, it was a bit strange. This kind of owl was usually active at night. Although it was foggy, it was still daytime. Why would this owl attack Richard?
"Quack! You idiot! Hold it down for me! I'm going to teach it a lesson as a warning to others! "Richard shouted as if he was a fox pretending to be a tiger.
The spotted owl twisted its body helplessly, and from time to time, its hook-like mouth made a grunt.
"It's hurt." After Zhang Zian examined it, he found that a feather on the inside of its wing was burnt black and had a slightly burnt smell. When he rubbed it with his fingers, he could rub out a lot of small black particles. This was carbonized protein.
"Quack! Looks like this guy was also struck by lightning, so he came to attack me in a daze. As a result, I, the king of all birds, revealed a little of my domineering aura and scared it to the ground … "
Richard chattered non-stop, but in fact, it was trying to hide the shock in its heart. It saw that the owl's claws were as sharp as steel hooks. If it had been successfully ambushed just now, it would probably have had to load and restart its life …
"Nonsense! How could an owl be struck by lightning? "he retorted.
"Why not? For example, it's sitting on a branch and taking a dump. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning strikes the tree, electrocuting it to the point of incontinence. Just thinking about it is exciting! "
"Haha, you talk as if you birds have a 'forbidden' to lose …" He was too lazy to continue talking nonsense with it. "How can the inside of the wings be charred after being struck by lightning?"
Richard couldn't answer, but he didn't want to admit defeat. He could only try to change the topic. "Then tell me why? Could it be that it didn't hold the candle properly when it was playing with the wax dripping? "
Zhang Zian said, "One day, I'll seal your beak with wax first!"
After chatting for a while, the other elfins were also quite curious about why the owl's wings were injured, so he speculated, "First of all, this is not a burn, but an electric shock. The voltage is very high, but not as high as lightning. So I think that it was not struck by lightning, but accidentally touched the power grid and was burned by the high-voltage electricity."
"Power grid?" The elfins were surprised.
Zhang Zian nodded. He guessed that the owl might have been hunting in the fog. It swooped down on its prey from the air, but the moment it passed the power grid, it was hit by the electric discharge of the power grid. The inside of its wings might have touched the power grid, or it might not have touched it physically, but it might have been a short distance away. But perhaps because of the high humidity in the air, even without direct contact, there were electric sparks between its wings and the power grid.
Although the owl that was burned by the electric sparks would not die immediately, its flight sensitivity had obviously been affected. Otherwise, it would not have been swung down by Zhang Zian's stick.
There was no doubt that the importance of wings to birds. With its wings injured, its hunting efficiency was seriously reduced, and its brain and nerves might have also been affected. That was why it attacked Richard during the day.
"Why is there a power grid in the forest?" the elfins asked, puzzled.
"The power grid is the most likely option. Otherwise, I can't think of anything that could have touched it. If it was a wire, the wire is generally wrapped in insulating rubber, so it won't be hurt by the electricity. As for the power grid … Although this is a national park, there are still a small part of the area that is private land. The owner has the right to set up the power grid on private land, which is different from the situation in China, "he explained.
Even in the national forest park, the owners of private land still had a high degree of autonomy. They even had the right to cut down trees, but there was a size limit. Small trees could be cut down at will, and trees that exceeded a certain size had to be applied for. Mahogany was absolutely not to be cut down, but of course, it was not a problem to build a power grid.
But ordinary people would not build a power grid in private land. It was possible that the electricity could hurt their neighbors or their own children and pets. People who would do this must be hiding some secret.
As for what secret it was … he and the elfins thought of the venison slaughterhouse or Peter Lee's secret base.
In any case, this injured owl was quite unlucky. Since they had encountered it, they had to give it something to eat. They couldn't just leave it alone, because there were only about three to four thousand of these owls left in the wild. If one died, there would be one less. After all, prey as dumb as Richard was rarely seen.
He didn't put down his backpack. Instead, he took out a bag of jerky from the bag on Famous's back, tore it open, soaked it in water, and tried to feed it.
The spotted owl was probably starving. Without hesitation, it stretched out its beak and swallowed the jerky.
He fed it a few more, and it accepted all of them. It didn't refuse any of them, and soon finished the bag of jerky.
"Oh my, it can really eat. Is this guy a pig?" Richard said disdainfully. "It doesn't even have the grace to eat."
"Be careful. I'm going to let it go," he said.
"Quack?" Richard was so scared that he quickly flew to Old Time Tea's side and said, "Grandpa Tea, we have a good relationship, right?"
Old Time Tea advised, "If you want to save someone, you should go all the way. Since this owl bumped into us, it is destined to be with us. If we just let it go, I'm afraid it won't be able to hold on. It's better to take it with us."
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