A great horned owl, one of eight species of owl documented in Indiana

Yesterday, as the sun oozed slowly below the horizon and the brittle cold settled into my toes, the woods was crypt-quiet.  I was motionless, fluffed up in my treestand like a chickadee on a branch trying to stay warm.

Out of the corner of my eye, rapid motion attracted my attention.  It was too high in the trees for a deer and I slowly pivoted my head to find the source of the commotion.

Instantly I saw that I had a new neighbor in the treetops: a great horned owl.  He was hunting, just as I was.

We sat and watched each other for five minutes.  He was close enough that I could see his eyelids move every time he blinked those great light-gathering orbs.   His head never moved in obvious concern for this great camouflaged creature likewise perched in a treetop.

After he satisfied his curiosity, or perhaps in a huff over the intrusion, he silently flew off through the trees.  I marveled at the way the owl flew through the morass of branches, fluidly wending through the nearly-invisible twigs without making a sound.

I didn’t see any deer but was again reminded why we spend all those hours shivering in the tree tops.

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Gary M. Stolz

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