Bloomberg journalist Del Wilber was jogging on the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda, Maryland on Monday night when an owl swooped in and knocked him to the ground.
At first, he was unsure what had attacked him until a fellow jogger pointed out the owl that had attacked him.
“It swooped in and jumped on my head. It felt like I got hit by a bottle and fell to the ground. A jogger asked me if I was okay. It felt like someone hit me but no one was there. Then I see this bird in the tree… this other runner told me: ‘you got attacked by an owl.’ I was like ‘I didn’t get attacked by an owl, that’s crazy.’ And then I look down the trail and there is this big white owl,” he told WMAL Radio in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday morning.
Bill Hamilton, principal natural resources specialist for Montgomery Parks, told The Washington Post that he believed the owl may be a “juvenile owl” staking out territory.
Wilber disagreed with the owl being labeled as a juvenile.
“This ain’t no juvenile bird! It was a big bird, man! I saw it swooping down on a woman with a pony tail and then flew off,” he said.
The Bloomberg scribe is not sure why he was targeted but he thinks the owl may have mistaken his “great head of hair” for an animal.
Was attacked by a rogue owl while running in Bethesda tonight. They are not so cute up close or when they dig their talons into your head.
— Del Quentin Wilber (@DelWilber) October 13, 2015
Wilber received a slew of local television and radio interviews after tweeting about the attack.
He admits he was surprised by the attention. After years of being a top investigative journalist in criminal justice and court reporting for The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, in addition to writing a definitive book about the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, Wilber quips, “I get more attention for this than my journalism! What is wrong with the world?”
The aggressive owl now has a parody Twitter account @moco owl.
This guy @DelWilber is helping me get the word out. Almost sorry I attacked you. Almost. https://t.co/zcduIn2mh1
— MoCo Owl (@moco_owl) October 14, 2015
Signs have gone up on the Crescent Trail warning other runners of the territorial bird.
Capital Crescent Trail sign warns of owl attacks. (Photo: Montgomery Parks)
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