Great Horned Owl in the Moonlight

May 31st   It was five AM, the night after the full moon.  Still brilliant, the moon was about to set in the west, just before dawn.

I was awakened with a blast of sound,  “Hoo, hoo, hoo dat” answered by a more distant “Hoo, hoo, hoo dat.”  Convinced that a huge owl was just outside our trailer, I crept out into the pearly landscape.  I stood in the meadow and got my bearings, then realized the owls must be at least 150 yards away in the burnt forest by the pond. The skeletal ponderosa pines still tower and the great horned owls were perched on them, calling back and forth.  These owls, also called cat owls because of their perky ears, are the apex predators, able to pounce on prey as large as rabbits, possums and porcupines.  I imagined that their hunting must be eased after the fire, with no needled or leafy branches to block their view.

The calling went on for another ten minutes and then I guessed they found their prey, then each other, and bedded down for the dawning day.