Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Owly Tenant

We have a green fiberglass duck box on the far edge of the pond. It's about 100 feet from my bedroom window. For the past few days, I've looked out to see this adorable little gray-phase Screech Owl napping in it.

At night when I'm outside I can usually hear Screech Owls calling to each other. The air is very still at night, especially during the winter, and the sounds of owls calling travels easily through the cold, thin air. I always stop what I'm doing and just listen. The trilled owl calls always make me smile!

If you remember last winter we had a regular owl visitor whom we name Oscar. I don't know if this is the same owl. I'm just glad to see these little raptors living on the Twelve Acres. It means our mouse population is being controlled by natural means.

Joanna informed me that I have to list 6 things that make me happy.


  1. Being able to look out my windows and see nature in my own back yard.

  2. Having no neighbors and living in the country where it's quiet and peaceful.

  3. Owning my childhood home and having my son grow up here too.

  4. Cooking nutritious, delicious food from scratch, sometimes using eggs or meat from my own chickens.

  5. Owning a business that some day may support us completely, right here on our property.

  6. Living in a rural town and knowing that the people are good, decent people.

12 comments:

  1. Oh, that owl is so cute with his head popping out of the hole! We mostly have barred owls here with their "who-cooks-for-you" call.

    Once in a while I will hear a screech owl at night. Maybe the trilling I hear isn't the barred owls that I thought, but instead the screech owls. Or do they both do that? I love hearing it when I'm lying in bed on a summer night with the windows open. It's "trilling"!

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  2. How cool to have an owl right outside your door like that! I've never seen an owl in the wild.

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  3. Susan, I've never heard a Barred Owl call but I hope to some day. The Screech Owls make a descending whinny sound, sometimes followed by a lower steady trill. I love to hear them! I try to imagine what they're saying to each other.

    Christy, it is very cool. Out here in the sticks we have raptors of all kinds and I enjoy seeing them more than any of the other bird species.

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  4. Ah! What a wonderful photo! It's so perfect! I long for an owl or two on our property up north, but I think that's going to have to wait until we get some more cover planted, make it more owl friendly.

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  5. Very cool. I'm still battling with the squirrels although I've had Screech owls around...

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  6. So kind of you to give that owl a napping place.

    That is a great list.

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  7. What a great photograph! Ya'll sure have some fascinating birds of prey around your place.

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  8. That is definitely six wonderful things to be happy for!!
    Love the little owl... he is adorable!

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  9. Love the owl picture, very cool. I also enjoyed your list!

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  10. Amy, your owl is so cute and the things that make you happy would make me happy too. Sounds like you have your own little piece of heaven on earth!

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  11. Those are 6 perfect things! How great is that to have an owl neighbor! I hear them every now and then at night but I've yet to see them around our place.

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  12. I am going to get a couple of those, we have owls around here that call all night, i don't know what kind they are, and it's always dark so i have never seen them, but it can't hurt. Nice blog btw!

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