The Owl and the Cat

I love cats. I love owls more. They hold a stature in the wild kingdom that is stately, magnificent and mysterious. Every year for un-thanksgiving or neo-christmas I request time w/my family to spend the day at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge just off of Interstate 5 between Davis and Willows. It is a six-acre tract of land that has been restored to the original habitat of the Central California Valley: marshland. SWR is part of the Pacific Flyway, the route migrating birds use to traverse the hemisphere to feed and mate.

If you go around feeding-time, that is early dawn or dusk, you can see the birds of prey (bald & golden eagles; red-tail, red-shoulder, and harrier hawks, kestrels, kites, and owls) fly over the hundreds of thousands wading, diving and dabbling ducks, seeking out breakfast, dinner or an occasional snack.

This is a barn owl.