Thursday, May 16, 2013

Barn and Barred Owls





 Of late, I've been inhabiting a world where owls, coming and going, are delivering messages to me.  These aren't letters or packages, like Harry Potter or his friends might receive, but messages just the same.  You see, I believe that the natural world, including its inhabitants, carry messages for us all--specific to each one of us.  The trick is understanding how to interpret these.

(Both images provided are in the Public Domain courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Above is a Barred Owl; below is a Barn Owl.)



I live just a couple miles outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the woodlands in my rural neighborhood host many Barred Owls (see top photo). Almost daily I hear these owls calling to one another, and sometimes I join into the conversation, offering my best imitation--Who cooks for you-u-u-u. . . Who cooks for you all-l-l-l-l.  Of course, my vocalizations sound nothing like the Barred's, but even so, he or she always respond (these owls are extremely social and polite).  But though I often hear these owls, I seldom see one.  Yet of late that's not been the case.

My owl sightings began a few weeks ago, when I visited someone whose property included a massive, aging barn.  She showed me into this incredible structure, striped with daylight streaming through the board planks, where at once a beautiful white owl took flight from a high rafter, winging her way through the long barn and toward an opening at its end.  Watching this spectacle, I felt transported, as if touched by something magical.

A day after this wondrous vision of the Barn Owl (who has inhabited her residence for some eight years now),  I was walking in the woods behind my property, when a large dark owl dove softly from a nearby tree, wings gently plying the air.  In serene delight I watched the owl, so near to me, fly through the woodland. Again, I was touched by magic.

Since then, several times in this woodland, I've encountered a Barred Owl (the same one?)  Each time, the owl has taken flight from a nearby tree as I and my dog have entered his/her domain. 

Does the owl have a message for me?  I think so, but I don't yet know what.

Until next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne


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