"A Rare Sight" (Barred Owl)

Last January my husband and I got to see a "life bird" for us; and in a place where they are rarely seen.  This photo was taken on our second time looking for it.  This Barred Owl was in Boise, Idaho in a subdivision by the river.

After asking some binocular-carrying people for directions to its exact current location, we quietly approached with my camera shutter on quiet mode and marveled at this beautiful owl.  What a delight it was!  The patterns on it are so pretty!  It was perched in a backyard tree, not far from the sidewalk near the greenbelt.  There were several more people there admiring the owl, but it didn't seem to be bothered by us as is evidenced in the image I captured of it here.  In fact, I didn't get a photo with its eyes open due to it calmly snoozing the whole time we were there.  It was difficult to get shots of it without pieces of branches and twigs covering its face since it was back in the evergreen behind some other bushes that were nearer to us, in the foreground.  It was a bitter cold, winter day but it was well worth it.  I feel blessed to have gotten the chance to see this bird in the wild and so close to home! I waited to publish this post for the bird's safety.

What birds have YOU seen "out of place" lately?

For more information about the Barred Owl, click on it's name above the picture below.

                                                             Barred Owl (Strix varia )