This morning at 4:30 I was sitting quietly and heard the courting duet of a pair of Great Horned owls, very close. So close I thought they were in our back yard. They kept up their whoo-ing and response for a good half hour before they began to move slowly southward. Dennis surmises they may be nesting in one of the graveyards nearby, or perhaps the park. It is good to have an indoor cat. Our neighbor cat, Midnight, prowls around at night. I hope she does not become owl food. We have always wondered if that might be what became of Tom Tugger, Britches’ older sibling who went out one day and never came back.

Here is what Birds of America says about the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus virginianus): “Tiger of the Air” is the term which has been applied to this great Owl, and fitly, too, it must be admitted, for the big bird undeniably is courageous, powerful, and bloodthirsty. …The tiger comparison applies well to the Owl’s manner of hunting, for the sweep of his great wings in the silent air is as noiseless as the tread of the big cat’s padded feet upon the soft earth. ”