Hoo's That?

Yesterday evening we had a surprise visitor at our house. We were outside on the back patio, barbequing pork chops on the grill when a rather largish grey-brown object fluttered down into the yard amid the maple leaves. It was an owl!

From my research I will guess it was a barred owl, because it was about 18" tall. It just looked at us calmly for a minute or two, then swooped back up onto a branch of our maple tree and continued to scope out the yard for little critters. I read that they hunt at twilight and will hang around lighted areas to hunt. It was very exciting to see such a huge bird up close! We live in a very heavily wooded area within the suburbs and have seen pilated woodpeckers, hawks and bald eagles in the past, along with opossoms, raccoons, and even a black bear!

We kept our fluffy little white doggy inside. "Um, Mr. Owl? I'm not a bunny rabbit, OK?"