Great Horned Owls

Late last night, actually really early this morning - 1:00 AM - I was curled up by the wood cook stove reading a book that I just couldn't put down. I had gone to bed early but woke up thinking about the book.... I found coals in the firebox of the cook stove and was able to easily rekindle the fire. As I sat and read, I heard a noise not normally associated with the bitter cold weather for me. It wasn't a creak or crack as the house weathered the Arctic chill, it was the very distinct calling between two owls and one was quite loud and close. I knew right away that it was perched on the pitch of the roof over the bay window where I was sitting and it's distant mate was most likely on the second story roof of the shop. I listened in wonder thinking how very necessary it must be for them to be out hunting on this intensely cold night.

In early spring, the pair had two owlets and would bring them to our place to hunt at night. You could hear the young ones screeching back and forth, having been placed in a safe spot while a parent hunted. One evening I was looking out the bay window and one of the adult owls flew by at eye level, close enough to reach out and touch easily. Tramp 1 was in the back of the house and came running out to say he heard it's wing tip hit the gutter of the house as it flew by.

There were two incidents that let me see the owls clearly enough to say they are Great Horned Owls. First, as I was driving up the road to our home one evening at almost dark, there was one of the big owls standing in the middle of the road, looking up the road and not behind, where I was approaching from. I actually had to stop and wait - it finally swiveled it's head around, stared at me and then swooped up and away. Second, one day I heard a racket going on outside with the crows. I glanced out to see what was going on and there it was, one of the very large owlets marooned in the top of a juniper tree as the crows persistently attacked it. I chased off the crows and watched the owlet. After resting a bit, it was able to fly down the hill and away safely.

As for the book that captured my nocturnal interest - it was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It is a bleak but compelling story that I just could not put down for long. I needed to know the end... Read it and be jolted with gratitude for your life - every little nuance....