In the Portland Sunday heat, we spent most of the day indoors appreciating our friends’ air conditioning. Late afternoon we did rally for a walk in the Moonshadow Woods Nature Area. We explored the park in a way I never had before in all my years of visiting and familiarly walking “the loop.” This time we were a kid troupe lead by a First Grader and we went off-trail. In the midst of playing and eating blackberries, I looked up, and a pair of eyes were looking back at me. We all shared an amazing experience of communing with two beautiful Bard Owls. One owl was particularly near, and when a sudden my movement initiated him taking flight he settled in a higher alder tree branch. He then gazed at his mate across from him on another alder tree, giving her away. They were extremely camouflaged.

We had been intrepidly exploring, rather unawares, and were very close for quite a bit before I looked up with the sense of being watched. Indeed, not three meters away an owl was making owl eyes at me. We all made owl eyes in return. It was a special day, I’m glad I spent it with you!