A few days ago my wife and I were about to get in our car. I was locking the front door when I heard Laurel say, "Brian, look at this. An owl!"
It looked like a garden statue, perched in groundcover just off the edge of a stepping stone leading to our carport.
At first I was worried that it'd fly off if I aproached it from the front with my iPhone in hand. But no. What we assumed was a baby owl was so "frozen," I never saw it even blink.
(Laurel watched it longer than I did and eventually saw it blink.)
From above, it must have been almost invisible, given its markings and how it blended in so well with surrounding vegetation.
Freezing makes a lot of sense for a little owl out in the daytime. Danger largely lurks from above. Hawks must look for motion, so a stationary creature isn't likely to grab their attention.
It was gone by the time we got home after doing some errands. My wife had thought about picking it up and putting it in a tree if it was still there. Looking at its expression, and beak, my feeling was "no way."
Comments