What an exciting night! We have several barred owls living in our area, and most nights we can hear them calling. It's a very calm, distinctive call, and sounds like they're asking, "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?" Nice, and their music makes our lives much richer. We enjoy it so much that we named our place, Owl's Haven. It's a good thing to live in a place that is frequented by owls.
Last night it was different. I woke up in the middle of the night to this incredible racket going on all around the house! There were at least 5 owls calling, not in their usual calm call, but a "Who-Who-Who-Who-Who-Who?", traveling up the scale and faster as it progressed. One would start it, then others chime in until it was so loud that I was surprised Jim was still sleeping through it. The whole thing would go on for about 5 minutes, growing louder and more raucus. You could separate the voices too, closer to the house and further away, higher, and more bass.
Of course, I had to wake him up, he just couldn't miss out on that kind of concert. I thought it was a mating frenzy, with a bunch of males competing for one female, and when it finally fell silent, after about two hours, I could imagine the triumphant male and the one who caused all the furor, snuggling down in a nest with smiles on their beaks and smoking a cigarette.
Jim thought that instead of a mating fury, it was an invader in their territory and they were ganging up to chase it off. I don't know, but we sure did enjoy the concert.
Last night it was different. I woke up in the middle of the night to this incredible racket going on all around the house! There were at least 5 owls calling, not in their usual calm call, but a "Who-Who-Who-Who-Who-Who?", traveling up the scale and faster as it progressed. One would start it, then others chime in until it was so loud that I was surprised Jim was still sleeping through it. The whole thing would go on for about 5 minutes, growing louder and more raucus. You could separate the voices too, closer to the house and further away, higher, and more bass.
Of course, I had to wake him up, he just couldn't miss out on that kind of concert. I thought it was a mating frenzy, with a bunch of males competing for one female, and when it finally fell silent, after about two hours, I could imagine the triumphant male and the one who caused all the furor, snuggling down in a nest with smiles on their beaks and smoking a cigarette.
Jim thought that instead of a mating fury, it was an invader in their territory and they were ganging up to chase it off. I don't know, but we sure did enjoy the concert.
Then this morning, as we were heading out to talk about projects for the day, Jim discovered a two foot long black snake in our front yard! We watched as it slowly climbed the magnolia tree and moved out onto a high branch. I was almost too late in thinking about grabbing the camera, but fortunately a combination of the zoom on the camera and the snake's cooperation made it possible to get a picture to post here. Just as I was ready to snap the picture, it looked down at me, flicked out it's tongue and said "cheese!" Honest it did!
No comments:
Post a Comment