Harry Potter, you've got mail

I was in the kitchen about to head out with a friend for a walk in the woods about 3:30 today, when all of a sudden I saw a great swath of wings flying by the bird feeder wired to the deck. I guess I've learned something being here: I instantly thought: hawk! Tthe wings were too big and too tan to be one of the song birds that we typically see behind our house.

In the couple of seconds it took to think this, the wings swooped out of sight below the kitchen window and then reappeared, gliding up, as the barred owl, for so it was, landed on a branch in a nearby sapling and stared down at the bird feeder, waiting for dinner to present itself.

It was huge. It was silent, and it just sat there, blinking oh so rarely in that awesome way, turning its head around like Linda Blair to check out the menu options in back. I don't see any cats around, I said to my friend, but it certainly could have grabbed Chance if she'd been out there. Take a sparrow if you like, but please, don't take the cardinals!

It sat there for about 10 minutes while we ooo-ed and aww-ed, and I snapped some photos through the glass. My friend went out the front to get her dog; I turned away for only a moment, and it was gone. As Frost says, "for once then, something."