Whoooo, What, Where, When, Why?

"Whooooo is invading my space?" this owl seemed to question through squinted eyes.

As a journalist, I've been trained to answer the who, what, where, when and why questions. But I don't have a lot of answers for this feathered friend.

Jake saw him a couple of weeks ago in the corral and thought he was injured. But by the time I arrived on the scene, he'd flown into a tree. So much for the injury report, I thought.

Jake got some photos on his cell phone, but, for me, the Kodak moment was long gone. Then I got another chance when Randy called from the silo to say the owl was back.

I pulled on my tennis shoes and grabbed the camera. I figured the owl would have flown the coop long before I got there. And even if he hadn't, my little point and shoot camera isn't designed for bird portraits. So I sure wasn't getting my hopes up.

But I was in luck. I couldn't believe how close he let me come. I was a little wary at first because I didn't want him swooping in with claws extended. But I kept creeping closer and closer. He may have looked at me with disdain, but he didn't fly away.

Randy doesn't know whether he was injured or whether he had eaten so many mice at the silo that he was flight challenged at that moment. (After wintertime, I can relate to that, too ... not that I have trouble resisting mice. Oh, you know what I mean!)

Here's the shot straight out of the camera.

Here's the "tweaked" version.
The colors of the silage and the owl's feathers were awfully similar on a cloudy day. This just helped pop the colors a little more.

True confessions: I may have been grumbling as I drove toward the silo after my husband interrupted me with this bird report and suggested I bring the camera. I'm not grumbling now.