Large bird attacks Oregon jogger; owl is blamed for strikes
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon jogger thought someone knocked him in the head or he got hit by lightning or may have suffered a stroke when he felt a big blow to the head last week as he was jogging in Bush’s Pasture Park.
When the 58-year-old man, Ron Jaecks of Salem, was struck a second time he saw a large winged animal he thought was a massive bat.
Willamette University biology Professor David Craig told the Statesman Journal the attacker was likely an owl.
Great horned owls are nesting in January and are known to attack anything they think threatens their nest.