Barred Owl!

No sooner had I posted the last blog about the cold and the siskins, a barred owl flew into the tree just beyond the bird feeders! Now, this is why I work from home.... Here are a few pictures, admittedly poor, but they were taken through the window and the owl is a good thirty feet away.

 

We often hear barred owls hooting from the woods behind, but this is the first time I've seen them in daylight in our yard. They are somewhat diurnal so not a surprise to see it out at mid-day. It seemed to be watching the backyard -- the wild meadow that we mowed this fall -- waiting for a vole to carelessly emerge from a grassy hideout. Seeing no movement, the owl flew into the back woods.

I am extra thrilled about this because my 7-year old niece said she saw an owl near the bird feeders on Thanksgiving weekend. She is quite observant, but I was wondering if she mistook it for a Cooper's hawk, which we often see near the feeders, since I had never seen an owl so near the house during the day. Clearly my niece knows her owls and her hawks!