The Owl
At first, the sound is faint. Traveling through his single exposed ear, through the tympanic membrane, the vibrating sound then passes the malleus, incus, stapes and on to the cochlea, the auditory nerve and finally the brain. The miracle of hearing, even when asleep.
His brain recognizes it as sound, a familiar but untypical sound. He awakens slightly but quickly goes back to sleep as his brain concludes “dream.”
hoo, hoo-oo, hoo, hoo
The brain once again extracts and processes the information from the auditory nerve, but now more alert, the brain delivers an accurate answer: “owl, not a dream.” Now awake, the man listens for confirmation and hears the sound again, this time using his brain to identify location and type. The brain delivers more data and the man concludes it’s in the pin oak tree behind the bedroom. The call doesn’t have the distinctive aw of the Barred owl at the close, so he identifies the call as that of the Great Horned owl.
And there in the cool, dark of the January morning, perched on a solid but moist branch of the oak, not far from the trunk, sits the owl calling to its mate. It’s nesting season in the Delta, and this owl is one the man has never seen but has heard, usually in January and February.
Now fully alert, a wave of nocturnal excitement passes through him. He nudges his wife.
“Allison.”
“Uh…”
“Allison.”
“What?”
“Listen…it’s a Great Horned owl.”
…well, I was more thrilled than my wife to hear my long lost friend had returned. I don’t think she was too keen on being awakened at 3:00 AM by her bird-nut husband.
This particular species will maintain a territory or nesting area for as long as eight years. Some captive birds live more than thirty years, although wild ones generally live less than fifteen years. I’m not exactly sure how long this one has been around, but it’s been here, off and on, for at least five years. They’re fairly territorial, so the chances are good this is the same bird. He’s shared a bounty of food with a Coopers hawk that also seems to enjoy our critter friendly domain.
Every day should start with the calls of our avian friends.
Delightful. What a wonderful way to be awakened from sleep.