I took a little drive today at about 3:30 in the afternoon, mainly to see if the great gray owl I'm absolutely positive is hanging around here would be visible. No such luck, but I did see a coyote about a mile from my house. I knew it was a coyote, and not a timberwolf, because there was an inch of fresh snow, perfect for observing tracks, and the tracks were not big enough to be a wolf. The coyote had beautiful reddish/tan fur.
Tonight I was treated to the sound of two great horned owls calling to each other; I presume they were male and female. Are they starting to mate already? They were so near I could even hear them from inside the cookshed; probably in the aspen woods just across the swamp. A beautiful, haunting sound.
how we turn and roll
ReplyDeleteour fur tangled
black sky white snow
howling
once
ReplyDeletefive am
walking the dim trail
stones skatter under boot
mud sucks heel
howl
five voices
throats tight
santa cruz mountians -- january 2003
The Great Horned Owls were calling to each other here on Sunday morning long before sunrise. I heard them as I loaded the cross-country skies into the car. It's so nice to hear them!
ReplyDeleteI have to imagine their wonderful owl voices, because we just have not heard them here at all. So glad you have their presence in your life.
ReplyDeleteGreat Horned Owls are very early maters. There's a good chance they were courting, just as you thuoght.
ReplyDeleteWe're lucky enough to have them around here (but for how long?)