Hiding in plane sight.

It was a picture-perfect morning in Estabrook, but I had to go to school today, and thank goodness I did. Look who I saw along the way in Cambridge Woods.

That little cutie, ladies and gentlemen, is an eastern screech-owl (Megascops asio), and here’s a close-up.

As I rode by bike to campus this morning, a guy, who’s name I didn’t catch, was taking a bunch of pictures of it, and I did my best to do the same with my phone. On my way home, I couldn’t believe my luck to find it was still there, so I hustled home to get my real camera. Miracle of miracles, it was still there on my 3rd visit.

I was surprised by how small it was. The fine folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describe it as “an owl no bigger than a pint glass”. Now that I know what to look for, you can bet I’ll be scouring our trees in Estabrook with renewed vigor.

Meanwhile, back in the park, here are a few images that I couldn’t fit in yesterday’s report. A herring gull decided it was bath day, no matter the weather.

It splashed under the water a few times.

Then hopped up onto the ice.

Shook itself off just as a dog would.

And that’s it. All done. Clean as a whistle.

Tomorrow morning, I expect to resume our regularly schedule program.