Sunday, April 13, 2014

The Owl

I was driving south, then east, on back country roads.  As I came to a T in the road - just as I would turn east - I saw movement, an expanse of wings, directly in front of where I was.  At first I thought it was a hawk.  It was an owl.  She settled in to where she was headed - the top of a wooden post, as if she were a part of the post itself.  Had I not seen her fly to it, I would not have seen her on the post.  As I stopped at the T, she stayed still.  Then she turned her head to the east, once, and held it there, directing me to continue, letting me know there was more on the road ahead.  I did drive as she directed, but came back to take a photo.  As I sat in my car before her, a truck (headed east) barreled through between us.  When it had passed, she was gone, as if she were never there.  The shot below is not the best, but it is the only, so it must suffice:


What I had not known until that day was the expanse of wings that an owl can have.

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