When not glued to a screen

one can see some amazing things

[NickMNS]

Earlier this afternoon my son looked out the window a caught a glimpse of this bird sitting perched high in a tree.
[imgur.com...]

Now this may not seems so special to some, but we live about 15 to 20 minutes away (less than 10 km) from a major urban center. The owl sat there for over an hour giving us the time to set up two telescopes and snap a few pictures and videos. The photos aren't the greatest, because I don't have a proper camera that mounts to the scope.

This isn't the first time I have seen a bird of prey, a few years back we had peregrine falcon sitting in a tree in our yard, only a few feet from the house. It was holding its prey in its talon. The owl was about 100m meters away, and was much bigger than the falcon.

I was quite exciting to see this bird, the only wild life we usually see are squirrels, skunk and raccoons.

[not2easy]

Things you don't see everyday! There may be a supply of field mice around to keep the owl's attention?

[tangor]

Was riding my bike (15 or so years back) with a white helmet near dusk. I was a block or so from returning home when I was hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat... or so it seemed!

Big flurry of wings, wind in my face NOT from forward motion, and almost knocked off my bike.

Neighbor across the street came running up as I stopped and shook my head.

"Biggest damn owl I ever saw!"

Apparently that white helmet looked like a rabbit!

Since then I have never worn a white helmet.

Year before a red-tailed hawk took over the birdbath in the back yard. The bird bath was two and half feet in diameter and this young bad boy filled it up and then some. I sat at the kitchen table watching it splash water about 25 feet beyond the window for a few minutes. Then realized I needed to take some pics! By the time I came back with the camera it had flown off.

[lucy24]

Apparently that white helmet looked like a rabbit!

I'm told owls are really not very bright :)

[engine]

Last night, the local owl was calling, "woot" quite frequently on its favourite perch. Clearly, dining was not on its mind.
We have never seen it, but we hear it most days.

NickMNS, excellent. You were lucky to get such a great view, and quite likely it's finding prey in your neighbourhood.

[NickMNS]

quite likely it's finding prey in your neighbourhood.

The are plenty of squirrels to go around. If it is eating squirrels, then awesome, finally something to reduce population.

Since then I have never worn a white helmet.

I think I'm going put my white tuque with the fuzzy pompom in storage for while.

[tangor]

Good idea ... the owl's claws tore the heck out of my helmet! Had to replace it the next day. The helmet that is!

[Kendo]

That's the difference between inner city and the country side. Before, we only saw the back fence and the neighbouring rooves. But now we can sit on the verandah and just watch the trees dancing in the wind... much more interesting and more relaxing at the same time. Also have heaps of wildlife plus lots of insects.

One of our team is in Russia where it gets really cold. He was having trouble relating to 40-43 C temperatures and bushfires when it is so cold there. But one benefit of that cold as he mentioned, was "no bugs". We probably have millions on ants of varying species on our property.

Oh yes, owls, pheasants, eagles, varying species of ibis, heron and cormorant that feed on the fish in the dam, plus about 30 more species of bird. Kangaroos but no koalas. No Crocodiles but water dragons, blue tongues, frill necks, skinks and a huge goanna that steals the bird eggs. He's not very popular atm and we can always tell when he is around because the crows and cockatoos go crazy. Did I mention the snakes? We probably have about 30 of them (3 species) and we only got 4 acres.

[piatkow]

Reminds me of the time that I was working from home and could hear a strange bird call in the garden. I walked to the window and saw a turtle dove.

See some great things on the screen too when I download the files from the camera trap in the garden. The encounter between a neighbour's cat and a badger was quite entertaining.

[engine]

The encounter between a neighbour's cat and a badger was quite entertaining.

Indeed. I assume the badger won.

We encourage wildlife around our home, especially hedgehogs, and they have a little footpath they've worn into the soil. Quite often they can be seen trundling along this well-worn path between the plants. Hedgehogs are particularly good at consuming slugs, and no need for a slug pellet in sight.