Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Owl and The Pussycat

So, what could make me look like even more of a nerd?  Hmmmm.  Let's see. . . What? What? What, could I do?

Oh, I know!  I could take my cat to Jake's Landing to look for Short-eared Owls, that's what.  Yup.  You read that right. Mimi, Roxy and I went to Jake's Landing this evening to look for Short-eared Owls.  My Fiat was the only car in the parking lot when we arrived so I let Mimi out.  Jake's Landing Road winds through woods, then a marsh and ends at a boat ramp.  The gravel road and parking lot are surrounded by wet marsh so I let Mimi out of the car while I searched for the owls.

She circled the car.  Then she circled it again.  Then she started making wider circles to the edge of the grass.  I wasn't worried since I knew she couldn't go far so I focused my attention on finding an owl and hopefully getting a photo or two.  Every so often I would look around for her. Then, I looked around and couldn't find her.  OH CRAP.  Connie will never speak to me again if I lose this cat . . . But really, how far could she go?  She is 20 years old for God's sake. 

It didn't seem that weird - until the other cars came down the road and sent me scrambling to find the cat.  I found her all the way at the far edge of the parking lot and only because I heard the jangling of her tags. Imagine what the other drivers thought when they saw this lone woman with binoculars, a camera and a CAT slung over her shoulders. I looked like the crazy cat lady, that's what.  Needless to say, the other cars left quickly and I put the cat in the car.

The good news is that I managed to find 3 owls sitting in the marsh and also got to hear 2 calling.  The bad news is that none of them ever got closer than this:


And, they only became active after this which rendered my camera useless:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you had lost Mimi, Connie is not the only one you would have answered to!!!

Sorry for ending the sentence with a preposition.

Great shot of the sunset.

The not so hearty handshaker. BTW, the flowers are still great.