Many years ago, before owl collecting became vogue, I was blessed with a singularly profound encounter with a Great Gray Owl.
She stares with eyes blinking lazily
Into the primeval night,
A symbol of wisdom for some,
A foreteller of death to others.
From her high perch
Upon a gnarled and ghostly limb,
She regally and intently
Regards her surroundings,
Surveying the nearly moonless forest
With its creek waters trickling down the shallow slope
On their way to the river miles away.
A faint rustling of the fallen autumn leaves
Suspends her blinking and she focuses her eyes downward,
Watching the ground with intense concentration,
So still, so silent,
A consummate stalker
With the profound patience
Of a true hunter.
Finally, she is rewarded
As a tiny head appears, nose twitching,
A mouse completely unaware of the danger,
Poised, deadly, and at the ready
High within the bare oak branches
Above it.
A wonderful "day in the life" of a great gray owl. I, too, have come upon a barn owl sitting on a rather low tree limb and in daylight. I watched it sitting there for some time, and then moved on so that it could sleep before going out to hunt at night.
My friends once captured, from the nest, a young great horned owl and placed it in a caged enclosure with a wooden house and a perch that ran from side to side in front of the little house. The end of the perch stuck out through the cage and provided a perch for the mother to sit on every night when she came to feed her offspring. Most of the birds with their heads neatly removed, lay in a pile over a foot deep outside the cage. Of all the birds she brought to feed her baby, the bird pile contained starlings, sparrows, robins, meadowlarks, redwing blackbirds, and other species. I didn't see a single mouse.
I like the mood you create and your attention to detail which sustains it. This is an interesting well, well observed and well written. The title doesn't quite live up to the intensity and perceptiveness of the subject matter. Well done.
Ahhh . . . This owl was not the cute cuddly sort, your "totem" was a true to life hunter. The difference in animal life than human life is that animals kill only to feed themselves, not to terrorize and kill just for the sake of killing. Enjoyed your effort here, Rebecca.
A book of nature inspired poems and essays, written from the heart and soul of a life-long nature, animal, and wilderness lover, and dedicated to today’s children - Earth's only hope for a better tomorrow.
This book won 'The Poetry Category'
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My friends once captured, from the nest, a young great horned owl and placed it in a caged enclosure with a wooden house and a perch that ran from side to side in front of the little house. The end of the perch stuck out through the cage and provided a perch for the mother to sit on every night when she came to feed her offspring. Most of the birds with their heads neatly removed, lay in a pile over a foot deep outside the cage. Of all the birds she brought to feed her baby, the bird pile contained starlings, sparrows, robins, meadowlarks, redwing blackbirds, and other species. I didn't see a single mouse.
Ron
John
So still, so silent
and patience" That's a great hunter!
Thanks for sharing!