Arctic Snowy Owls

11, June 14
journal page

As the sun was nearing its days end...
and dark was settling in, Ed came rushing into the house to gather me,
grab the binoculars... come... quickly!
Hurry!
Out of breath we scurried back to the big barn, he had just noticed a small flock of blackbirds chasing a rather large bird...
it looked like a Snowy Owl he exclaimed!
As we slipped underneath the outside cross boards of the barn door,
we stood still barely breathing as our eyes scanned the darkness...
searching the beams high up.
There he was...standing tall and very still...every bit of 16 inches in height!
As we stood in awe for some time, the Snowy Owl took flight right above our heads right through the side window of the barn.
A few months later, there was quite a write up in our local paper about the Arctic Snowy Owl traveling south, far away from their tundra homes in search of prey. That many are showing up in increasing numbers in Ohio, mostly along the lake. They had mentioned there were 15 reported sitings. I guess we should have reported our siting. There is always next time. What a privilege to have stood just below this beautiful breathtaking species.