The Owl And The Hedge Witch...."As I Held My Breath With Incredulous Wonder "

Everyday lovely day in my gardening realm,but today serendipity and the universe graced me.Since today dawned warm and clear finally I headed off to work the last thing I grabbed leaving the house was my camera thinking I might happen upon a stray blossom to show you.I was at a clients house picking up wind debris in the shade garden when I felt someone watching me ...thinking it was my son I stopped . As I straightened up I noticed what "at a distance"appeared to be a cluster of dead leaves caught in the branches of a small Hemlock I was standing about 4 ft from.Thinking I would pluck it out .I was mid step when I realized it had eyes!!!!!!


I paused thinking is that a kitten ,then took another step and was breathless !

It was akin to being transported through a portal and was allowed a rare glimpse of all I hold near and dear lol.

Every so slowly I puled out my camera and whispered I just wanted proof of my tale.ever so slowly I danced around the little tree clicking away thinking to myself just one good shot please!

It was very surreal Its not like I just got a glimpse of him this little feller sat through a frakin photo session .He was not in duress ,unalarmed ,alert yet not fearful and studied me as thoroughly and thoughtfully as I studied him .Never as a gardener or a witch have I had such a very close and prolonged encounter with an owl.

Im fairly certain at this point it was thinking human how many damned pic do you want!

After I was satisfied I maybe ,hopefully succeeded in getting a good pic I eased away.Sometimes the most wonderful things are right there in front of you watching you just need to stop and look to see them.......

Eastern Screech-Owl Our smallest breeding owl, the Eastern Screech-Owl (Otus asio), is scarcely larger than a Blue Jay and is named for two distinctive calls that carry great distances in still night air. One call is a high-pitched descending whinny that would fit right into the soundtrack of a Hollywood horror flick; the other is a constant warbling tone that can be reproduced, albeit indelicately, by tilting back your head and whistling with just the right amount of saliva on your tongue. Experienced birders carry a tape of this call or learn to imitate it because it seems irresistible to songbirds that come to investigate. Screech-Owls live in coniferous woods and occur in two color phases; in the Piedmont and mountains they tend to have rusty plumage, while eastern birds are most often gray. Their yellow eyes and ear tufts make them look like miniature versions of the Great Horned Owl. Native Northwest coast Kwagulth people believed that owls represented both a deceased person and their newly-released soul. The Kwakiutl Indians were convinced that Owls were the souls of people and should therefore not be harmed, for when an Owl was killed the person to whom the soul belonged would also die. To the Mojave Indians of Arizona, one would become an Owl after death, this being and interim stage before becoming a water beetle, and ultimately pure air. Among the Sioux, Hin-Han the owl guards the entrance to the Milky Way over which the souls of the dead must pass to reach the spirit land