I was out my backyard trails on Sunday with my biking buddy Misty and saw something I've been hearing for years, but have never seen: a barred owl.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_Owl
Man, this thing looked huge, and fully capable of taking on a red-tailed hawk (should they decide they'd want to do such a silly thing and battle, I only mention it to give you perspective on the size). My bird book said they're 22" high and I'd say that was about right.
I think the only reason I saw it was because initially I heard this massive thing take off from one tree and move to another tree (a nice bare snag in fully view), and he/she was clearly interested in my dog because he ignored me and as my dog ran around circling me, giving me the look of "c'mon man, let's run" the owl would spin its head around following her every move.
A really cool moment in the woods.
edit: the picture above is from WikiPedia, not me but this is essentially/coincidentally what I saw.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_Owl
Man, this thing looked huge, and fully capable of taking on a red-tailed hawk (should they decide they'd want to do such a silly thing and battle, I only mention it to give you perspective on the size). My bird book said they're 22" high and I'd say that was about right.
I think the only reason I saw it was because initially I heard this massive thing take off from one tree and move to another tree (a nice bare snag in fully view), and he/she was clearly interested in my dog because he ignored me and as my dog ran around circling me, giving me the look of "c'mon man, let's run" the owl would spin its head around following her every move.
A really cool moment in the woods.
edit: the picture above is from WikiPedia, not me but this is essentially/coincidentally what I saw.
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