Nature is filled with fun, fascination, and God’s expansive glory. Did you hear? News broke this week…not about instability or bad guys on the prowl, but a local critter in trouble…a “barred owl.” He got himself wrapped up in a fishing line. Without assistance…well, let me tell you about barred owls.
Roughly once a week, I sit outside and have a conversation – with a barred owl. He is my neighbor. Generally, this is one of my best talks of the week. We exchange views, always unhurried, no sharp words. We both marvel (I am sure) at the closeness of a dependable, easy-going friend.
Our dialogue varies. No politics. He usually starts with “who-hoot-who-who,” which he repeats, the classic barred owl call. This is paired with a single hoot or two and a parakeet murmur, only deeper.
I give back what I can muster, which probably strikes him as a sick relative. We do not talk long. He says his piece, I say mine, then done. Funny part is, he lives not far from the one who got in trouble.
Reading the paper today, the barred owl – tangled up in loveless fish line – was found one town over. This set me to thinking. Maybe I should know more about my neighbor…
Turns out, barred owls – also known as northern barred owls, striped owls, or eight-hoot owls – are exceedingly common. They started in New England and have spread everywhere. They love deep woods, mixed forests, swamps, and – not surprisingly, given his troubles – eat fish, and smaller fare.
Interestingly, although I seldom see my flying, nocturnal neighbor, barred owls can stand two feet tall, boast a four-foot wingspan. From dawn to sundown, they sleep half of every hour, then hunt vigorously all night.
Owls come to us, of course, also in books, wisdom imputed to them – probably something about their patience, deep eyes, difficulty being seen, and nimbleness at night. Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, is tied to owls, as is the “Brown Owl” in Squirrel Nutkin, part of the Peter Rabbit series.
Then we have Winnie-the-Pooh’s not-so-swift friend “WOL” (not a great speller), “Hedwig” in Harry Potter, and “Howland,” an “expert at everything owl” from Pogo (the cartoon). There are probably more, as owls are mysterious, quizzical, eternally and nocturnally interesting birds, odd as birds come.
Most interesting for me, however, was the fact that barred owls – found almost everywhere now – have a range of six miles and live 18 years in the wild, up to 30 in captivity. They are non-migratory homebodies, hunting a limited swath, inclined to “live long and prosper.”
All that brought me back to “my” barred owl, my neighbor the conversationalist. You see, the town in which that other barred owl was caught in a fishing line is less than six miles away.
The good news is that the local police found him, disentangled the fishing line, fixed him up, and plan to release him back into the wild. Thank God for barred owls and good-hearted police officers.
For me, rather selfishly, I look forward to hearing whether my friend was the owl in question. He will probably show up later this week. We can talk it over.
I will ask him if he is the one “who-hoot-who-who” got into that mess. He will ask me, “Who-hoot-who-who” is asking. We will chuckle and murmur; he will go hunt, I will go to sleep. Nature is alive with fun, fascination, and God’s glory, isn’t it?
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
Read full article here