As I walked into the forest I thought about what a long time it had been since I saw Owl. This fall has been all about dodging cougars (Predator and Prey), making portraits of fungi and occasionally finding Pileated Woodpeckers that are much easier to locate given the racket they make.

Walking along the path, I knew Owl was there. Somewhere. This 50 acres of forest is its home and I always have the sense that it is there somewhere around me. Because it is. Whether these human eyes can focus on it through all the visual chaos that is the forest is quite another thing. I vowed that I would walk the forest every single day until I found it.

At that moment there it was, flying across the path directly in front of me, at eye level. I watched and followed for a long time as it hunted the forest floor. A thrill and a delight, as ever.

Owl has different roles in different cultural mythologies. In Navaho tradition the owl was a symbol of death and disaster, appearing in daylight as a warning. For me, finding the Barred Owl in the forest at the end of the road is a sign that all is right in my world.