Great Horned Owl: "I Spy an Eye"
From which direction have you come and to which direction will you go?
Dawn long since passed and the Great Light has revealed much of the world.
Eyes upon you pondering intentions and questions follow.
From which direction have you come and to which direction will you go?
I took these photos March 23, 2025. Halfway into my hike, I heard American Crows mobbing something: Hawk? Owl?
My crow buddies were ahead of me making a raucous. There was something in these pines and the crows were not happy.
I hiked to the pine trees where my crow buddies were perched. I looked up and saw movement. My buddies had found a Great Horned Owl.
Someone has their eye on me. Notice how the owl looked at me through a gap in the branches using one eye and then the other. I see you.
***Sound warning! My buddies are rather loud in their cawing!***
My crow buddies lead me to most of my owl and hawk sightings in the park. They are a great team to work with on my hikes. My peanut taxes are always paid in full.
English - Korean:
Great Horned Owl = 큰 뿔 올빼미 / keun ppool olppaemi
Great = 큰 / keun
Horned = 뿔 / ppool
Owl = 올빼미 / olppaemi
*** Some of you may have noticed that the signature has changed on my photos from “Neil Barker / Photography” to “닐B.” Long story short: my old PC died and I didn’t have access to the signature image for a few weeks. I decided to make a new one and now use “닐B.” The “닐” is Korean hangeul script for “Neil” and “B” is for “Barker.” ***
Crows really don’t like it when there’s a predator bird around. We once made the mistake of releasing a Cooper’s hawk in the yard after he was rehabilitated by the wildlife rescue. (I worked for them at that time.) Literally within minutes, there was a large group of more than 20 crows, several groups of blue jays, and some mockingbirds (although they just came to watch the drama). I felt horrible! Thankfully the hawk was okay but he did get attacked several times. He’s still living in the area.
Telltale crows’ loud mob
lead birder poet to spot.
Great Horned Owl busted!