I was hanging out in the yard getting some fresh air yesterday & heard a rustle in the old barn. So I ninja walked over to the barn door & caught the squatter first hand on camera.
Took about 35 years of living here before an owl took up residence in the barn last summer. I think I finally planted enough food around the yard to keep a lot of small critters around, & keep Hooty Hoo, the owl fat & happy.
She is incredibly shy in the daytime & gets spooked easily. You can鈥檛 really use the barn when she鈥檚 in there or she flies away. If you make her fly away in the daytime the other local birds will chase her away & potentially try to kill her 馃槺 I have seen a hawk go after her in the daytime when she fled the barn. Then a murder of crows went after the hawk. Aerial carnage overhead!
She bounces from the barn to the big cedar here
But she didn鈥檛 trust me outside either & fled the cedar tree down to the woods.
Very happy to see Hooty Hoo back this year, my favorite wild barn guest ever. I feel like I should catch & release some rodents in the barn for her to make friends, but she has plenty to eat judging by all of the pellets in my barn!
Hoooooty Hoooo!!