Hoo

Bryan woke me up one morning, about two weeks ago, to tell me that there was an owl perched in the tree, in our front yard. When I went outside to take its photo, it did its little exorcist rotating head turn to watch. my. every. move. Slowly, I approached the tree, fearing with every step, I would provoke the owl to spread its wings and lunge at me, with claws outstretched. I think the owl must have been exhausted from a night of serious hunting since it didn't move (apart from the rotating head)... it didn't even flinch when Charlevoix emerged from the house. It. just. watched. her. very. intensely. Thank god Charlevoix didn't see it - she would have gone all Kujo. Turns out it was a long-eared owl, which used to be on the Illinois endangered species list, but I guess they are making a come-back.

Bryan got home from work earlier than I did that evening. He said when he got home, the owl was STILL in the tree, however after sunset, it flew off to the neighbor's tree and after a short rest, flew away.

The owl returned to the neighbor's tree today, but not ours. I think it didn't appreciate our paparrazzi photography while it was trying to sleep...