Backyard Birding

Last night, I had dinner with friends. Before we ate, we sat on the deck, looking out on their lovely, wooded backyard. There was a lot of bird activity in the trees--a trio of squeaking blue jays were dipping and diving at what appeared to be big knob on a tree branch. I watched the commotion for a few seconds before the big knob turned it's head and peered up at the wine drinking humans on the deck: an owl!

I've always wanted to see an owl out in nature. I've seen a few in sad little caged bird displays in my childhood. I remember one in some state park or another with a long row of birds of prey, all caged up in their own teeny cages, not even big enough to accommodate their giant wingspans. There were hawks and vultures, eagles and owls. Last night was my first owl in the wild. It was just lovely. One of my dinner companions took out his iPhone and identified it as a barred owl. He said that they're usually about 21 inches long, have dark eyes and no ear tufts, and have a wingspan of about 45 inches. We watched our owl sit patiently as the blue jays tried to scare him off. He even let us walk up to him--not too close, but closer than our deck perch--and he just sat and stared back at us with his dark eyes. Eventually, he was scared into another tree and then off into the woods. He was a real beauty (or she was. Who knows which?). I know I've said that my new things need to be intentional, but I'm counting the owl. My new thing campaign; my rules. Here's a photo of a barred owl, by the way.



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