Last night we walked quite late, and I stopped and listened and I noticed one thing: I could hear the ice cracking. I'm not one of those people who predict when the river will open, but I was expecting it some time this week, based on the amount of water on the ice. So the cracking rather goes with my theory. And today it's very warm, and from my balcony I can see an open lead with actual moving water. Traditionally, river watchers congregate by the ice crossing in the evenings when the river is about to go, but I don't think I'll go this year. I'll just keep an eye on it from home.
But that's not actually what I was listening to last night. What got me listening was the owl. Owls. See, there is a great horned owl living in the woods along Riverview Drive somewhere, or maybe just across the river. You hear him quite often in the evenings and I've seen him several times. But yesterday when I was on Riverview, the owl actually started hooting in the ravine. I've never heard him there before. And second, I noticed every call was repeated twice, first loud then quiet. At first I thought the owl was repeating himself, but of course that makes no sense. What was happening is that the owl in the ravine was calling to another owl who was calling back from further away.
Wow.
I suppose it's logical that where there is one great horned owl, there would be at least two great horned owls, but I've never heard or seen two of them at the same time before. For all I know there could have been only one great horned owl left in the whole world. Now, I have evidence of at least two great horned owls. I hope they mate and produce offspring.
The downside of this though, is what if they eat my dog?
I used to worry about eagles eating The Creature, until I found out that eagles eat fish. Owls, on the other hand, eat ground varmints, and in particular, I once saw a great horned owl at Porritt Landing staring at Tinky-Winky for a very long time as she scurried about. And Tinky-Winky has no concept of "up." She understands "down", as in going down into a burrow, or when she's on the balcony and I'm downstairs, she can look at me and whine. But she doesn't get "up," like a squirrel or porcupine going up a tree, or when she's on the ground and I'm on the balcony, no matter how much I call her, she keeps looking for me on the ground. Weird... As a result she's often oblivious to ravens and they amuse themselves at her expense, pretending they're gonna grab her with their little talons and then laughing about it among themselves. So if an owl came swooping down on her, she's never know what hit her.
Maybe I should leave offerings to Owl for the safety of my dog. And in the hopes that I get some good photos of these great horned owls over the summer, when they won't have any darkness to hide in.
But that's not actually what I was listening to last night. What got me listening was the owl. Owls. See, there is a great horned owl living in the woods along Riverview Drive somewhere, or maybe just across the river. You hear him quite often in the evenings and I've seen him several times. But yesterday when I was on Riverview, the owl actually started hooting in the ravine. I've never heard him there before. And second, I noticed every call was repeated twice, first loud then quiet. At first I thought the owl was repeating himself, but of course that makes no sense. What was happening is that the owl in the ravine was calling to another owl who was calling back from further away.
Wow.
I suppose it's logical that where there is one great horned owl, there would be at least two great horned owls, but I've never heard or seen two of them at the same time before. For all I know there could have been only one great horned owl left in the whole world. Now, I have evidence of at least two great horned owls. I hope they mate and produce offspring.
The downside of this though, is what if they eat my dog?
I used to worry about eagles eating The Creature, until I found out that eagles eat fish. Owls, on the other hand, eat ground varmints, and in particular, I once saw a great horned owl at Porritt Landing staring at Tinky-Winky for a very long time as she scurried about. And Tinky-Winky has no concept of "up." She understands "down", as in going down into a burrow, or when she's on the balcony and I'm downstairs, she can look at me and whine. But she doesn't get "up," like a squirrel or porcupine going up a tree, or when she's on the ground and I'm on the balcony, no matter how much I call her, she keeps looking for me on the ground. Weird... As a result she's often oblivious to ravens and they amuse themselves at her expense, pretending they're gonna grab her with their little talons and then laughing about it among themselves. So if an owl came swooping down on her, she's never know what hit her.
Maybe I should leave offerings to Owl for the safety of my dog. And in the hopes that I get some good photos of these great horned owls over the summer, when they won't have any darkness to hide in.
