So a couple of nights ago two Great Horned Owls were hooting at each other in the wild bramble of trees and border along the edge of my backyard, and woke me up. It’s the kind of noise that somehow always makes me not only happy, but ecstatic to be hearing a part of nature that so rarely presents itself in suburbia. And it means it’s spring.Â
When I lived in Nova Scotia, my ex and I would go on long hikes back into the woods. One hike brought us to a lake that hadn’t been deadened by all the logging in the area. A female moose was quietly eating from it as we came upon the opening in the thick fir forest. We surprised a porcupine, who slowly waddled out of our way, but the most amazing encounter was a huge horned owl who sat on a tree limb and watched us as we made our way out of the woods at dusk. She didn’t budge – just blinked. The females are larger than the males and this one was big. We kept turning around thinking that she’d fly off. Nope, she wasn’t moving from her spot. Take a listen. Magnificent creatures.
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A month or so back, in late February, I heard the foxes again too.