28 Oct 21	We interrupt this travelogue to bring you this breaking news. Walking past the bedroom this morning I thought I saw something strange out on the deck. At first I thought naw, it's just a shadow, but upon deciding to walk into the room to see for sure I realized the shadow was an owl, a Barred Owl to be exact. At least I think it was a Barred Owl. Called Jan in to see it and as it was still sitting there decided to go up and get the camera and maybe grab a quick shot or two before it spooked. I did, it didn't, and it let me shoot for about 5 minutes before it oh so softly took flight. It was sitting from a perch that let it scan for the numerous irritating squirrels that mooch from us daily but sadly none came out to temp fate. If only . . . .  The morning light was not much, and as I didn't think it was going to sit where it was for long, I elected to try and shoot hand held even though I knew what was truly needed was a tripod and cable release. But I didn't think the bird would elect to hang around as I got things set up so I got what I could. So this won't be tack sharp, but it is sharp enough to share, especially if you look at it from a distance of maybe three feet from the screen. The critter was sitting on the deck rail amongst a messy honeysuckle so I've had to remove a fair amount of the vine that was between the bird and me. I guess it thought the plant would serve as camouflage but it apparently wasn't  sufficient to fool any of its intended prey.

I've cropped off a fair amount of the original and removed a lot of vines, otherwise this is what the camera captured.  Waiting Patiently  Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 1,000; 1/80 sec @ f / 7.1 hand held.