An Owl in the Dark!

Slipped out the door with the dog late last night, and there was an owl, sitting on the very top of a young maple sapling, about 50 feet away - silhouetted against the night sky!!

Crept back in the house immediately to get the camera and binoculars, while the owl sat obligingly and waited for me. Somehow, I managed to get a picture in which it showed up though it was 10 o'clock at night.



There are only four species of owl around here that would have 'ears' like this one did. It was about crow-size, too big to be a Screech Owl, too small to be a Great Horned Owl. We concluded it was a Short-eared Owl, the first I've ever seen. We regularly hear owls in the woods at night, but haven't seen one here before.

Then suddenly it was gone, gliding away on silent wings to the woods. The owls are probably started nesting by now, another sure sign of spring just around the corner.