Let Us Prey...

on mice, voles, squirrels... ;-)

Tongue and cheek tittle credit goes to Hubs, who was also kind enough to help me sort through the hundreds of shots I took of this magnificent bird. I went with this image because we both went "Aww" every time we saw it, though I think the one where she's looking right at me is technically the better shot.

Barred Owl in large.

Today, as we were walking the dogs in the woods about a 1/2 mile from our house, I spotted a large bird/animal ahead on the path. We all stopped and studied it and decided it was a bird but until it took off we weren't sure what kind. It wasn't too concerned about us and gracefully lifted off from the ground and landed in a patch of pines just off the path. When we got to that spot of the trail, I was so surprised to see it still there and even more surprised that it just studied us, dogs and all, as we gawked at it for several minutes. Hubs convinced me to hurry back to the house for my camera while he finished the dog walk. (Though, I had little hope of this bird hanging around for so long...) But even after a 1/2 mile walk back and a quick car trip (to get me as close as I could with the car), a little more hiking with the camera and tripod, you guessed it... (obviously) she was still there!! I couldn't believe it. She then proceeded to let me take as many images as I wanted to take... What a nice little model she was. She had her eye on prey many times and ignored me for the most part; I had to move the tripod to get her to look right at me. She blinked several times, but only after I was finished with a burst of shots. So I only captured one image with her blinking, not the clearest shot, but you can make out the feathered eyelids! I never knew they had feathered eyelids...

What a lucky find. Honestly, had she not been on the trail (hunting, I assume) we would have walked right by her... And probably have many times before.