Sunset with Megascops

My days are punctuated now by our little gray houseguest, the Western Screech-Owl. It wakes me every morning between 4:00 and 6:00 with its loud homecoming chirps and barks, occasionally breaking into a trill or tremolo; and most mornings it’s sunning in the bright chill when I walk to the car.

And sunsets find it back filling the entrance to its box, lapping up some solar energy before setting out on its rounds of the nightly buffet.

We’re not the only ones enjoying the owls of winter: there appear to be early signs of a good owl year in the midwest and east.