The Great Horned Owls are missing this year. Every year here at Beyond Ester we hear a pair calling to each other. The hoots start up in January, and are a constant presence in the evenings. During the last couple of years, one hooted from a snag to the north of our cabin, and its mate echoed back from somewhere south of our cabin, down towards the valley.
The Boreal Owls are also missing. Their mournful descending calls have always trembled through our woods and across our valley.
This year, only silence. Monday's full moon was a lonely and quiet night without owls to hoot and to call.
Hi, PS--
ReplyDeleteHaven't heard owls here on the Ridge either, now that I think of it, but I think of them coming out in Fall or later in Spring when the nights are a bit warmer and the small critters are moving about.
Our vole population seems to have crashed after last summer's ravage of the garden. The owls may have gone where there's a better supply of food.