I See You!

  My hikes about the marsh and hillside never cease to turn up some pretty exciting things.  I am always pleasantly surprised by the find of some critter that intrigues me.  I will often just sit and watch for a while or, in some instances, lend a helping hand to those hungry....which brings me to today's hike.  Friend Owl has taken to coming to the same area each day.  There the bird sits and patiently waits.  I am still not positive but I tend to believe that the poor critter has been injured at some point and has trouble seeing.  Its left eye always has a different look about it which causes me concern.  Some folks say that I worry too much about the critters around here.  Perhaps I do.

  Friend Owl chooses the same small sapling to roost every day as it awaits for some hapless rodent to wander beneath the tree.  It was also in this small tree that it sat and awaited for the baby birds to hatch in the cardinal's and dove's nests.  The baby birds were easy targets, which, if I am correct about an eye injury, could possibly be what the owl was thinking.  It needed sustenance and the helpless babes were there.  Life goes on...the predators dine upon those weaker than itself.  

  Today while on my late afternoon hike, I spoke to Friend Owl.  The bird appeared to be sleeping but slowly opened one eye just enough to keep tabs on my presence.  I eased between to large clumps of palmettos to see just how close the bird would let me get before it flew to another tree.  Friend Owl's perch was not more than about six feet above ground and only a mere ten feet from me when I knelt down in the soft sand.  I figured that perhaps I would not be as threatening if I seemed to be sitting.  The owl watched me through half-closed eyes.  Speaking softly in a monotone voice, I told the bird how glad I was to see it.  I thanked it for trusting me enough to let me be so near.  For a good twenty minutes or so, I took dozens upon dozens of photographs of the bird.  I changed lens twice and even used the flash a couple of times without the bird stirring.  All this time, that left eye bothered me.  I just felt that something was not right.

  Later, I took Mark back to visit Friend Owl.  Sure enough, the bird was on the same perch and let us venture quite close before it flew to a new tree.  This was the first time that there were two humans visiting so it might have been a bit startling to the bird.  I told Mark that I plan to keep visiting the bird and will eventually start bringing it food.  Perhaps then, the baby birds will be safe.  Friend Owl may just need a "Friend Human" and maybe that should be me.