It was the Happiest Day of My Life. To add to all the other Happiest Days of My Life. The day I finally found what I was looking for, after all this time.
For 5 years now I have been walking in the forest at the end of our road, often actively looking for Owl. I know it’s (they are) there. Others have seen it, some have taken a picture of it, and these summer nights, sleeping with the windows wide open, I often hear it in the middle of the night. I ask, as I step through the pathway entrance to the forest and start scanning the branches, “Owl, where are you?”
Finally, finally I found it.
The previous day, I had drive up to the North Island Wildlife Rescue Centre, 15 minutes away, to get a fix, to see the resident owls. These residents have recovered from whatever injuries they have sustain, broken wings and such, but can not be released back to the wild, as they are too disabled, and so will live out their lives there. They live in large enclosures designed to mimic the forest. Trees and dappled shade and dark shadows. Peering in, it takes awhile to focus in and find them. But once you do, oh how wonderful!
One of the permanent resident owls, Oliver, is the Centre’s ambassador, and has been accustomed from babyhood to being close to people. They sometimes take him to schools and events to promote the Centre and educate people about our wildlife and conservation of our natural environment. This day I just happened to arrive at the time the Raptor Presentation was on, and was able to get up close and personal with both Oliver and also with falcon Emily, another permanent resident.
The next day I went to the forest, as always, carrying my bag with camera and small binoculars. I walked slowly down the pathways, stopping frequently to scan the surrounding trees and branches. In the end, it was not sight, but sound that led me to it. A small brown squirrel was on the trunk of a tree, running up and down and around it screaming its head off. I stopped, look up, and there it was – Owl. I just can’t describe what the sight of that large mass of animal did to me – how tame is that word ‘awesome’! It was moving this way and that, head bobbing up, down, sideways, around, picking its way along the branch, following the movement of the squirrel with its eyes. And there was something else going on. That squirrel did not just take off down the tree trunk and hide in safety, as you would think something under personal threat would do. Oh no, it stayed on the tree running up towards the owl and circling, circling, all the while yelling non-stop. After almost ten minutes of moving back and forth and around the branch, the owl hunched up, partially spread its wings and jumped over into what looked like a fork in the tree where it appeared to be poking its head into…what? The squirrel’s nest?
Afterwards – silence. Owl then flew over to a nearby branch in another tree and spent the next 20 minutes in full sight of my binoc’s, naked eye and camera, grooming itself and starting to snooze after his morning’s exertions.
Wait, there’s more. The following day, this time carrying my larger, stronger boat binoculars, I headed back to the forest to the area I had been the day previous. Stopped, looked around and bingo – once again found Owl sitting on a branch. After watching it for 45 minutes or so, again tracking a noisy squirrel, after it went out of sight in the thickness of brush by the creek, I left. Then, if that’s not enough, walking through another part of the forest, heading out, I saw a flash of movement, looked up and there was another one, flying through the trees and over the gully.
Oh be still, my heart.