Owl Magic



"May the Force be with you."

Whenever I head into nature, I go without expectations, because it's a lot more fun to see what gifts await.  Some of these gifts come in small packages, like hummingbirds, while others are larger, like reddish egrets.  On this day, though, the package was neither big nor small, but just the right size.

The Way Eye See It was taking a final turn around John Chestnut Sr. Park in Palm Harbor recently, looking for deer, but open for anything, when from somewhere overhead, a big bird swooped over the car and into a stand of pine trees.  We were so surprised, we didn't even think about identifying this bird, only figuring it had to be some kind of owl due to its shape and wingspan.

Even though we figured the owl would be long gone by the time we parked, we knew we couldn't just drive off without knowing for sure.  So, we parked, Anna grabbed her binoculars, I got my camera, and off we went in search of the owl - which ended up taking about two minutes, because the owl had landed in the pine tree closest to us.  It sat on a fairly low branch, and didn't seem at all in a hurry to move on.



looking like the proverbial wise old owl

Time is usually of the essence, though, when it comes to birds, and it was too good to be true this guy was hanging out.  I debated whether to go to the car for my 500mm zoom, and decided what the heck, since I'd already gotten a few shots with my smaller zoom.  If the owl flew away in the meantime, I was still happy we'd had the chance to see it.  I went to the car, changed cameras, changed lenses, mounted both on my tipod, and the owl was in the exact same spot when I returned.  It modeled for us - preened, stretched, squinted at us with its liquid-black eyes.  We were amazed it sat as long as it did, giving us the opportunity to really study it, since we'd never seen a Barred Owl in in the wild before.

I love their big ole round heads, and their huge black eyes are so expressive.  I didn't know until I read later that Barred Owls are the only eastern North American dark-eyed owls aside from Barn Owls.  Their expression is a serious one.  Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal about Barred Owls, "Solemnity is what they express, - fit representatives of the night."  That definitely rings true, although this owl was out in the early evening.  Still, even in the early evening, there's a mysterious air about owls.


scoping out the landscape

Eventually, the owl took flight, and we thought that was the last we'd see of it. When it landed in another tree not too far away, we watched it some more.  And I took more pictures, while it sat and looked around, until I finally reached the point (which almost never happens), when I decided I'd taken enough pictures.  Nine times out of ten, birds never stay, and sometimes the only pictures I get are of their butts as they fly away.  Even funnier are the shots of one departing foot in the very corner of the frame. 

This Barred Owl, though, who sat and let us fall in love with it, was magic, big ole round-headed, black-eyed magic in a package that was just the right size.



"Yes?"

"No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still enough for the photographer It has chosen."

Minor White