have I mentioned
how much I like raptors? We had a couple hawks sharing the yard with us last year, but this year there was no sign, which I didn’t understand until the daughter told me this morning “oh, there’s an owl outside my window, I hear it hoot and I smile every night as I go to sleep”
What a marvel of the evolutionary process is the owl. head on a swivel, literally, big eyes, feathers aligned and constructed as to make zero noise in flight. I loves ’em, and when I’m out hunting I love to hear them. Once, in a tree stand, i hooted in response to an owl, and was rewarded by having it swoop on me. (They’re very territorial). Once it saw I was a human it stood off at a distance and I watched it through my binocs.
To see one up close is a dream. What a magnificent creature!
Love owls to pieces. The last two years I lived in Cedar Rapids, one or two barred owls took up residence in the woods near my building, and every so often I’d hear them calling to each other. One day on a walk in the woods, I found some of their feathers, but owing to the federal law that makes it a felony to have the feathers of non-game birds, I left them where I found them. It would’ve been a nice souvenir otherwise.
In December of 2003 I stepped outside my parents’ house around 2 AM to look at the snow that was falling, and I heard the same kind of owl call from the woods. That’s when I knew I’d be staying here a while.
I once saw an Owl take a fish from a stream in Northern California…..incredible!
Have ya seen the State Farm commercial of the guy walking down the street with his falcon?
http://youtu.be/i7ZpWFTUz34
…and if you happen to startle one with, say, fireworks in the backyard, Oh the racket! They can squawk like nothing I’ve ever heard! Over the past 15 years, we’ve lived in three different homes here in Hooteville County, and we’ve been blessed with owls at all of them.
Robert @ Blackfork has an occasional family of Eastern screech owls that nest in a tree in his yard. He’s posted pictures from time to time. A few years ago I had some in the hollow tree in my front yard. Lots of fun watching the little ones grow up.
Had a barred owl swoop down to the barn fence the other evening. Hear them most every night, but up close..yeah.
About five years ago we were lucky enough to have a pair of young’uns hatched close by. Well, lucky might be the wrong word, ’cause they sat just outside our bedroom window & whistled for mom most of the night & all of the early am.
Great birds, though.
We have a raptor rehab center not far up the road, so I’ve had the opportunity to see all sorts of raptors up close, and I even volunteered there briefly. One of the boy Barred Owls there fell in love with a female education volunteer, and would hoot at her and flap his wings, click his beak, etc. She was rather put out when, on a field trip to a high school, the owl started flirting with a pretty blond teacher…
Ed Hering: that is a perfect example of a law that needs to be a misdemeanor instead of a felony, although I’m aware it came about because of the illegal trade in eagle feathers, etc.
Felony? When I was small I collected feathers with my dad that we found during walks in the woods. Hawks, owls, bluejays, falcons, finches, cardinals, crows. There was enough contraband in my sock drawer for a 50 count indictment. What a world.