owl

I saw a fluttering of wings as I walked by the window. Little did I know I was about to meet an owl in my backyard.

Do you see her?

If I didn’t know better, I might have thought my fox sent her.

Listen, there’s this lady who will freak out if you go in her backyard. She will get her camera and take a million photos of you. She’ll even try to talk to you. So if you’ve been down on yourself lately, go see her and it’ll give you a real confidence boost.”

-fox to owl

Except I recently learned that owls prey on foxes, so that conversation was unlikely.

After just a few photos, she started to fly away and I called out,

No, don’t go! I haven’t even introduced myself!”

-lady to owl

Turns out she was actually trying to catch a squirrel – unsuccessful – so she humored me and sat in a tree to be admired. I don’t think I have admired anything as much since the birth of my children (don’t tell my fox I said that). I ran outside without a coat, but I didn’t need one because my heart was beating so fast. I can’t explain it, maybe it’s the intensity in her face.

She unfurled her feathers to then bask in all her glory like the queen she is.

I kept getting closer and closer until she looked at me like this, which stopped me dead in my tracks.

We stared at each other for a while. I would have stood there all day except for hypothermia.

I even hooted at her a couple of times, like an overenthusiastic nitwit but with meaning. I’m not being hard on myself, she confirmed this when she looked at me with an expression that said,

Stop hooting at me. You’re not an owl.”

-owl to lady

I took a video of her because of course I took a video of her. I swear, at about seven seconds in, my heart almost stopped.

We eventually parted ways, but we were never the same again (I’d like to think our meeting had a profound effect on both of us, but probably mostly on me and probably only on me). Thank you, Barred Owl of St-Bruno. Do come again.