I don't like showing pictures of dead animals, but when it is educational, I will do so. Today, I saw this miserable lump in the shoulder of the road. What is it?
I flipped it over. Well, clearly a small raptor. Look at those talons.
I was momentarily stumped. Such a short tail. So small. I quickly had an aha moment; it's a screech owl. That said, I've never heard one from my house, although this was only about a quarter mile away.
I love the little screech owls! Although this one is more gray, they are often brown. Their voice is not some sort of hoot, like most owls. It's a rather eerie whinny. I've been with more than one person who was frightened when they heard it. To be honest, I was taken aback the first time I heard one after many years of not hearing one.
Here's the face. Notice the tufts of hair like ears. Because this one died with its eyes open, even though the feathers are roughed up, you can still see a bit of the fierce look. It's only about 9 inches from the top of its head to the tip of its tail. A normal size. I've never held one before. The closest I've been was to see one at a rehabilitation center from maybe 10 feet away. This was an awesome find, although I wish it hadn't tangled with a vehicle.
They are much more common farther east where I grew up. Dad would get me up at night sometimes to go outside and listen to them calling. One of the best things my parents did for me was to get me out of bed to see or hear special things that happened after children were supposed to be in bed.
A number of years ago, I found an injured great horned owl in the cemetery. I ran home to get towels and wrapped it up, and brought it home. I took it to a rehab center, but it was too badly hurt and they had to euthanize it. I guess that was pre-blog. I must have pictures from that, though.
It was a busy day. An early store run to get back in time for the washer repair man who will return next week with the right parts. Then I worked on the pantry. After lunch I wrote and worked on the pantry some more, and took a walk. I won't show you the pantry until it's much closer to done. One really good piece of news is that I found two pieces of camping equipment that have been missing for two years. Words in Vacation from DMS are at 15,297
 | See Luna Moth |
2 comments:
I've always liked owls although I've never seen one other than in pictures. Too bad this one had a sad ending.
The best part of cleaning things is finding stuff you thought was gone forever.
Lulu: "Awww, poor little owl."
Java Bean: "We have screech owls here. We never see them, but we definitely hear them from time to time."
Lulu: "We have Great Horned Owls too. Those are big enough that we see them sometimes."
Oona: "Oona would like to see a bird that big!"
Lulu: "Yeah, they would eat you right up, Oona."
Oona: "Oona is not afraid!"
Charlee: "That's because Oona is crazy."
Chaplin: "Happy Thanksgiving!"
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