Something to crow about

Tonight, after all the barn animals had been safely tucked in for the evening, Gib and I heard a deafening ruckus outside. Between our house and the barn, about 20 crows were in constant motion, flying from tree to tree and calling constantly to each other.  

We noticed they seemed to be concentrating on one tree right near our manure pile, flying in and out of it, but not landing there.  Gib thought the crows must have detected a predator, so we picked our way carefully (we were both barefoot!) down to the tree, and found this little guy:

He wasn't afraid of us, and he let me take quite a few pictures ~ mainly, I think, because Gib and I had scared off most of the crows.

At one point, however, a large crow ~ was it a raven? ~ returned. Both the owl and I stayed stock still as the huge bird flapped close overhead, its powerful wings slapping the air with menace. I knew the crow/raven couldn't ~ and wouldn't ~ hurt me, but in that moment, I felt a slight shiver of fear! In an instant, though, the bird was gone, and the night began to close in.

"So the owl wins," said Gib, referring to the nocturnal bird's advantage over its daytime cousins.  To see more photos of the owl, click HERE.