KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- People in Brookside have reported owls swooping down and attacking them. At least one attack happened as recently as this week.

The attacks started at the end of August. They prompted one woman to put up signs warning her neighbors about the nocturnal creatures. The signs advise neighbors to be alert from dusk to dawn.

Bruce Perry said an owl hit him roughly 10 days ago as he walked to his car at about 9:30 one night.

“I kind of looked around like what the heck, but didn't see anything,” Perry remembered. “A couple of seconds later I looked across the street and saw an owl in the tree clear as day. He turned his head and looked right at me."

Neighbors near 63rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue have reached out to the Missouri Department of Conservation. They said the agency can't explain exactly why the owls are attacking.

David D. Thompson said he’s not as concerned as his neighbors who have seen the owls swoop.

“In some cases, I would think they are concerned,” he explained. “In other cases, some of the neighbors seem to be rather jocular about it, kidding about the owls.”