I moved here to this house in October 2004 and frequently have Red-Shouldered Hawks that visit the wooded area of my backyard. I also frequently hear an Owl nearby but in 5 years have never successfully seen the bird. Today I was reading a magazine and looked out the window and saw this BIG bird swooping up into the branches of a tree in my backyard. Thinking it was one of the hawks, I grabbed my camera and slowly opened the door to the patio. When I raised the camera to my eye and looked....lo and behold, it was not a hawk, it was this barred Owl. He had caught his snack so he was content to keep an eye on me while I clicked off frame after frame.
Yes, today was a good day!