Are You An Owl?
On my photography walks, I don't listen to music. I find birds by looking and listening. I scan for shapes (like a hawk sitting silently on a branch) and movement (the flitting of tiny birds in the brush). And every time I pass a tree with holes in it, I look to see if perhaps an owl lives there. Owls, for me, are one of the hardest birds to find. In addition to being primarily nocturnal hunters, they are also very still when perched, and they have amazing natural camouflage.
Yesterday, I passed a hole on a familiar trail where I have seen a screech owl in the past. I looked as closely as I could (from a safe and respectful distance, my goal is to never disturb or pressure wildlife). There was movement inside, I could just make out something in there. Was it an owl? I paused, using my telephoto lens for a closer view, but it was dark in the hole and hard to see. Then, after a few minutes, a head popped up. Hello, Carolina Wren! You're not an owl!
Reading this made me think of the night I spent camping alone in the woods a few years back, when I first realized just how much I resembled an owl. I had set up my tent near a clearing, and after dinner I lay on my back, eyes wide open, listening to the chorus of crickets and the occasional hoot echoing from the trees. The darkness was thick, but my mind was alert, scanning every rustle as if I could see the world in shades of sound. https://stakecommunity.com/topic/254451-why-so-awkward-to-post/ I remember feeling a strange comfort in that heightened awareness, a sense that I was part of the night rather than an intruder. The next morning, a curious barn owl perched on…