A night of owls...

barred owl on a branch

family on a perch

After posting about my friend the barred owl, I awoke in the wee hours to the shrieks and calls of the breeding pair just outside my window. I can't say I actually awoke, more strained to come out of sleep to hear them better. Sometimes I reach over and open the window, but that morning I was very deep in sleep. I don't know in what order things happened that night, but I also had a wonderful dream..... I was somewhere outside standing at eye level and a few inches from a pair of barred owls. They were sitting on some kind of man-made perch or shelf. I reached out to the female owl who hopped gently onto the back of my hand. I thought for sure her talons would hurt but I didn't care, aware of the gift that she had given me in accepting my invitation. Strangely, she spread her talons out and only the lightest feathery sensation touched my hand. The male spread his wings and flew silently off. She hesitated for a moment, then spread her long wings and jumped gracefully into the wind and was off into the dusk. That's all I remember, a slight tidbit of a dream, but full of soft feathers and a magical moment with black-pool owl eyes- both innocent and intense. 

Maybe this season I'll catch a glimpse of the owlets all lined up in a row, sitting on a branch. It was nice of them to come visit just after I wrote about them... wonder if they'll visit tonight and spread mysterious dreamings through the hemlocks while I sleep.