The Great Great Horned Owl Story

At about 2:30PM on May 5, 2003, Michael was just edging toward consciousness having adapted his usual night shift hours to be awake for longer in daylight during his vacation. He could hear the sound of several very annoyed American Crows. In the meantime, Cathi was, well, um, heeding to the call of nature in another way, let's say, and was atop her throne in the bathroom. If you sit tippy-cheek, so to speak, or hover, as Cathi refers to it, birding is very possible from our bathroom window, but certainly not the most comfortable spot. As Michael walked out of the bedroom, it was clear that the crows were still very annoyed. Birders know that this could mean there was some sort of raptor around. Usually, it is a hawk. Usually, around here, it is a Red-Tailed Hawk.

As Michael passed the bathroom, Cathi shouted out that she was aware of the ruckus and was birding from her location, but had not spotted anything yet. Michael went to the kitchen window, but wasn't able to see anything either. Suddenly, a voice from the bathroom shouts "It's an owl! It's in the third tree!" It wasn't visible from the kitchen, so Michael did the only thing he could do - get out the camera and tripod!

These birds are not new visitors to 1002, but on this particular occasion we were able to capture one on film for the first time either here or anywhere.We always knew they were around. We hear them quite regularly, two or three at times hooting to each other. Sometimes it seems as though one or more of them are quite near the house. This was the first time, to our knowledge, that one decided to have a snooze in one of our trees.

It wasn't the best day for photographing something in the trees. It was very cloudy, dank and dreary. It looked and felt as though it would rain at any minute. Michael, still trying to wake up fully, had some trouble assembling everything necessary for this backyard safari. Finally, he got the camera outside and set-up on the cement deck and spied the bird and its attackers. Crows are relentless when in the presence of any kind of raptor, squawking and pecking with much swooping and wing flapping.

The owl was, at first, trying to ignore the harassment, but as the crows got braver, it actually had to defend itself. Michael was hoping that he would be able to get a few recognizable shots and tried his best to adjust the camera properly when he noticed there was only one shot left and he did not think to bring another roll. He took the photo and waited for the film to rewind. However, when he opened the back of the camera to change rolls, the film had not completely rewound! There was no time for this nonsense! He salvaged what he could of the roll went inside to get another roll and quickly reloaded. Luckily, when he finally set back up, the owl was still fending off its attackers. Cathi, having finished what she had been doing, came out, too, and got to look through the camera to see how the photos might turn out. Michael managed to get ten shots off altogether.

Soon, the owl had had enough of crows and photographers and quietly took off with the crows not so quietly following, one in particular was in hot pursuit, but the owl just left them behind. All we could do was hope that at least one of the photos was decent and the camera wasn't in need of repair. This roll rewound fine in the end and when the prints were done, all ten photos of our wise visitor were recognizable. It was hoped that the problem with the camera was a faulty battery, which was the most likely event, according to other photo people we asked, even though it shows up as fully charged. As it turned out, in the excitement of trying to get some decent shots, Michael seems to have turned off the camera before the film had fully rewound (D'oh!!). The camera has operated fine since. The photo at the top was the most dramatic, the one here at the left the second best.