A couple of evenings ago while sitting in the living room watching TV, a dark shape suddenly flew across the window and landed in the aspen tree. It was a Great Gray Owl.
“Wow,” I thought, and ran to get my camera. Camera in hand, I rushed outside, but before I could get it aimed, the owl flew forward and settled above me in our birch tree.
It was then that I realized that Lucifer our cat was outside, and I had always heard that big owls sometimes kill cats. While the owl was sitting on the branch, Lucifer, unaware of possible danger, nonchalantly walked out from behind the honeysuckle bush, strolling beneath the owl, and toward me. I grabbed the cat and put it into the safety of the house then went back to photographing the Great Gray.
These owls don’t seem to be too concerned about having people around looking at them. I took pictures of it in the birch, then it flew to the backyard by the garden. I went up to the balcony where I took the above photo of the owl sitting on the garden fence.
We have been worried about Lucifer going outside in the evening ever since I saw the owl, but I in an email from a friend, I was informed that while Great Horned Owls do eat cats, the Great Grays just eat mice and other rodents. That is reassuring because Lucifer sure likes to go outside in the evening and I hate to deny her that pleasure.
The owl is welcome to all the rodents it can find around here.
Take a look at my paintings: www.davidmarchant.ca
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