I was downstairs opening some windows the other night when I decided to open the back door for a minute. My purpose in opening the door was simply to let a little more fresh air in. Standing in the open door I looked out at some neglected space, where I really need to spend a few hours getting things cleaned up.
After a couple of minutes my eyes caught a glimpse of something sitting on the fence about 12 feet away. I couldn’t make out exactly what it was, so I pulled out my phone to take a picture. What a surprise I got to find an owl sitting on the fence in the backyard.
Things I learned about Owls
A couple of things strike me as interesting with this. First this little owl is pretty small. I knew that they come in a variety of sizes, but I hadn’t realized they could be this small. Second I was surprised to see it out and about in our neighborhood. I’m not sure how far these guys wander from home, so maybe it makes perfect sense that he’d be here. We’ve taken the kids and driven hours away into the wilderness to look for raptors like this, and not had any luck. Perhaps we should have done more looking in our own backyard.
Another thing I didn’t consider is that they would be out so early in the evening. I think this was probably taken around 10:00PM. It must be they are just waiting for dark, but in my head they were waiting until I went to bed to go hunting.
I was sad to only have my cell phone with me. It would have been fun to have a longer lens, and a camera with better low light capability. There was no time to grab a camera though. I must have spooked it, because not long after I discovered him, he took off and I haven’t been able to find him again. I’ll keep looking for the owl sitting on the fence, but likely I won’t be seeing him any time soon.
