Great horned owl

Sunday
We had a busy day today, starting with being at church for 8.45, for a run through our choir piece, and our handbell piece, which we were playing for the prelude, then we have a run through in the sanctuary to make sure the sound system is set up right for the various parts of the service. That was followed by our Lenten Bible study on the Gospel of John.
Then we rushed home to change and head to RAPTOR in Milford, a non profit organization dedicated to the conservation of birds of prey, via rehabilitation, education and research. It is located adjacent to Rowe Woods where we often go hiking. They rehabilitate over 300 birds of prey annually, and deliver over 350 educational presentations each year at schools, libraries, senior centers and other community events. They hold an Open House on the last Sunday of the month from March through November, so this was the first one of the year and was quite popular. The birds they have for the public to see are birds that can’t be released back into the wild for one reason or another. They were all in their large cages, except for this Great horned owl which they had outside with a volunteer to answer questions. Another striking bird was a leucistic red tailed hawk - see extra. They had several types of owls, red tailed hawk, peregrine falcon and an American kestrel.
From there, we headed downtown, to an organ recital at Christ Church cathedral. The organist was Jean Baptiste Robin, regarded as one of the most prominent French concert organists today, and in 2010 was appointed as Organist of the Royal Chapel at the Palace of Versailles. It was a wonderful recital, showcasing the cathedrals beautiful and versatile organ, and including works by J.S. Bach, François Couperin, Cesar Franck and Louis Verne, as well as one of his own compositions. The concert was followed by a reception, so I didn’t need to prepare much for dinner in the evening!
A wonderful varied day!
Step count: 4,829