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.

A cougar was spotted in the woods at the end of the road.

When I heard the news I grabbed my binoculars and camera and headed in. Stepping through the entrance onto the forest pathway always feels like entering another world, a world of light and shadows. Usually welcoming, but this time, knowing a predator was close, it felt much different. A minor key. Spooky.

I walked along the path scanning the forest floor on either side, looking up to lower branches and, every few paces, swivelling around 360 degrees, looking behind me.

I wondered if this was the last stupid thing I was going to do in this life.

When I got to the Loop Trail, which is where the cougar had been spotted, I stepped in and stopped, looking around. I immediately spotted…

Prey!

The mother deer was standing still, looking in the direction of the creek bank along the trail. What was she looking at? Did she sense the predator in the midst? She spotted me, but her attention seemed to be elsewhere. I watched. After awhile she collected her little one and left the area, moving in that slow, steady, precise walk they have, through the meadow, over to another section of the forest. I also, er, turned tail, and left that trail.

On the other side of the meadow, on another trail, I spotted the deer again through the trees; this time their attention was on me. The mother was keeping the little one close by her side. Deer will freeze motionless for long periods of time when they see what could be a threat and it seemed like she was teaching the baby to do the same.

After a few minutes I walked away and left them. For one thing, I had no desire to watch a hunt – I’ll leave that to the Nat Geo Wild cameramen and second, I didn’t want them focusing their attention on me, who would do them no wrong, leaving them to watch out for what did matter. It was time to leave the forest.

Cougar sightings are rare in town but do happen. I’ve only seen one, and that was safely stuffed and mounted in a diorama at the Wildlife Recovery Centre. Bigger than I had imagined, with huge, powerful jaws.

No doubt the big cat has moved on by now (?), although there was another sighting a couple of days later, but I still look around and behind me on my forest walks.

This may not be the best time to be crawling around on the forest floor photographing the September fungi that has emerged.

Meanwhile, returning to the garden to find a cat predator of a different kind…