As a kid, I never saw an owl in the wild - not knowing what to look or listen for. My encounters with owls since (Great Horned Owls, Eastern Screech Owls, and one Pygmy Owl) however, have been so intriguing that I remember nearly every one. With only a couple of exceptions, it's as though the owl found the human rather than the other way around. Perhaps there is some reason the owl seeks us out.

People in the United States now have more yard maintenance equipment than ever before, and thus we are more likely to prune our trees and other vegetation. This produces a more tidy look (sometimes a scalped look). The owls are grateful though to find the older, unmanicured, mellowed trees that have branches or tree trunks weathered over the years by insects and lichens and squirrels and such. I was happy to find a pine tree in Lousiana tucked in a corner of a neighborhood - a snag with few limbs still bearing cones and needles. There was much evidence that this aged tree supported a little community of wildlife, including the several young owls peering from a hole high up in the broken trunk.