Backyard Visitor

Some days are better than others. I just returned from a great road trip. We traveled from Charlotte to Cades Cove to Cinncinati to Dayton to Chicago (St Charles) to Paducah, Ky to Land Between the Lakes to Cumberland Falls State Park to Knoxville and finally back to Charlotte. By and large it was a relaxed and enjoyable trip. The kind of lazy trip where noone is in a hurry to get anywhere and is content with just enjoying the sights. The journey was the destination!!
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!