Our owl adventures continue. After a visit to the Carolina Raptor Center and a few close encounters here at home, I took the kids to see "Hoot," a movie about Florida kids who take on developers to save some endangered burrowing owls. They loved it, of course.
But the real treat came in our own back yard last night. We’d finished up dinner when we heard the signature hooting. Abby dashed out the porch and hooted herself — and got an answer. She called again, and when he answered, my sharp-eyed girl spotted him on a branch toward the back of the yard.
We slowly made our way back there until I saw him, and Camille saw him. He let us get almost directly below him before he flew to another branch. By then, Camille had roused the neighbors from their dinner, but they didn’t mind. Our neighbor Betsy had heard that owl for months, but never seen him. She finally did last night.
Tonight, Camille went looking for the owl again — and found him in exactly the same spot. It was earlier, and we got a really good look at him. It’s defintely a barred owl. Our neighbors on the other side came home, and Camille ran over to announce: "Come here. There’s something I HAVE to show you." They enjoyed it, too.
It’s great to know that even though we live in the city, there are still wild things about.
3 Comments
I love that you don’t even have to do a particularly good imitation of an owl to get an owl to respond. Some wildlife is hard to find, so it seems right that there ought to be some interesting kinds that are so easy to lure that even a preschooler can do it.
Cool! You guys make having kids sound so FUN! There aren’t a lot of times I truly wish I had kids, but sometimes you guys stir up the feelings! Love you all!
Wow how cool is that!!! I don’t think I have ever seen one of those in reall life outside of a zoo or something!!!