Shakespeare

Well, he is a Bard Owl... oh wait, that's "Barred Owl". My mistake. Ha ha.

But seriously, I was supposed to clean house today, at least that is what I told myself when I actually took time to notice the level of dirt accumulated here and there (and everywhere if I am honest.) But in no way did I feel like cleaning house. Instead I hankered to go up to my favorite park to take a walk. I invited Shelly but knew that he had other plans around his house and wouldn't come. No worries as I like to walk in Whatcom Falls Park by myself. It was around 11 am so I didn't expect to see much in the way of wildlife. So I walked down, meandered by the big falls and began to walk back up the trail again when I saw a big brown bird fly up into a tree on the left side of the trail. I knew it wasn't a crow or raven and it was too big to be just any old bird. So I went up to the tree and looked up and this is who was staring back down at me. I'm pretty sure this is a young bird, probably one of this year's kids. I was thrilled. It has probably been five years at least since I've seen an owl in the park. They used to be there all the time but then they moved away for a few years. And then I moved away. 

Anyhow, the two of us stared at each other. Nobody else was about. I had on my cat mask and began to bob up and down as I tend to do when I see owls. They do that too. This one just looked at me. Then I took off my  mask and he looked much more interested. I bobbed some more and he flew down to the path just a few feet away from where I was standing. He nibbled on some small something he found on the ground and turned to look at me. I complemented him on his catch and after a few minutes he flew off and away. What a thrill!