Birds

I am intervening from trying to catch up with family events to tell about two really cool bird sightings.

The first is that we have a really big red-headed woodpecker that occasionally graces us with its presence and eats from our hanging feeder in the backyard. It is one of the prettiest birds I've ever seen, and I believe that it visits us every time around this year. I'm not sure if they migrate or not, but I'm thinking they do. I can't quite get the camera out quick enough to catch it for a picture, but I will keep trying.

The other thing happened last night. The kids and I finished eating and since it was almost dark decided to go out to turn on our Halloween lights for the evening. (Jav was working late so he missed this). We always turn on Gus, our scariest of scary guys, for Gabriel to enjoy a few times before heading back inside. I was trying to convince him to come in when we heard this strange sound from the trees in our neighbors yard across the street. I was convinced it was a kitten yowling, and we walked over to try to see exactly where the noise was coming from. But it was really hard to tell because the sound was so high. I was saying, "Kitty kitty kitty" and making my cat call noise, but it just kept making the sound. We noticed that our neighbor Helen had walked out and strolled over to talk to her. She said that whatever it is, it's not a cat, because she hears it many evenings and from different trees all around her house. I realized it was just dusk, and it hit me that it was a screech owl. I had heard them from farther away when I lived in the country, and I knew there were some around here. But this was the first time I had heard one up close and personal, and was amazed that it didn't fly away even though we were standing right under it. The reason the sound was so hard to pin down was because it had been changing trees. Gabriel wanted to go in and get a flashlight, but I explained that these owls liked to be really high up and weren't very big, so there was little chance we could see them. I think we will try to go out again at the same time when Jav is home and try to hear it again.