Found this guy for the first time a couple weeks ago on a walk. He let me get really close, around 15'-20', before I decided I wasn't going to get anymore into his personal space. Decent shots for just having a cell phone without any real optical zoom to speak of.






Saw him again yesterday in just about the exact same spot as before. He must really like it here.








On my way back down this path later, I found him again. I knew right where he might be and still had trouble finding him. It's incredible how well they blend in and how still and quiet they can be. If I hadn't known he was there I'd have passed right under him without a clue

Darius is still hanging around our place. His cousins two houses down were venturing out to spread their wings.

I used to work with owls. Screech owls were my favorite. We had one trained to catch a cricket in the air and come back to my glove. I also worked with barn owls, great horned owls, red tailed hawks, bald eagles, Mississippi kites, and various other Raptors.

Have a nest tree of horned owls in a pecan up along the creek. I have heard that they don't like a lot of attention, so I try to keep my distance. First time I found them I thought there was a damn monkey in the tree - hooting, a limb was shaking, and apparently love was in the air.

Also have a nesting pair of barred owls within a few hundred feet of the house. In the past, I've had them stay perched on a fence post as I've driven right past them on my utv. They are pretty adapted to humans, apparently.

Used to have a family of barn owls in an old tree in my yard. We have some really good owl habitat - mature trees next to open fields in creek/ river bottom country.

No one has confirmed how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop yet, though.

Thanks, the only thing I like better than pictures of hooters is seeing them personally

Darius right before heading out for the night.

These barred owls made a nest in my pecan immediately next to my kitchen window. You can't quite see in the nest from inside unfortunately. The owlets fledged last week.

Got some others I'll try to post later, but this guy is pretty awesome

I need to start carrying a camera for better close-ups if this will be a regular thing.








And a couple of these guys were trapped by the dropping water levels of the stream: