barred owl 002

barred owl 002
Originally uploaded by garagesoap

This was a beautiful day (nearly 70 degrees), too beautiful to go to work so I stayed home knowing that I'd be raking up oak leaves and shoveling acorns (this year there are so many!) half the day. I went out back to change the water for the birds, looked up into the empty trees and saw this owl looking back at me, calm as could be. I watched him or her, on and off for a few hours. It was obviously hunting for small rodents in the ground which I think there must be many, especially mice. Later, i thought I saw two owls soaring in the sky, but so far off I might have mistaken the hawks for owls.