What a Surprise!

Dave (my long time boyfriend...if I could get around to writing a profile you would know that!) and I finally got around to taking down some rather large pine trees in our backyard. They had been struck by lightning during the 2004 hurricane season and died and were definitely becoming a hazard (falling branches, etc). Dave found that we didn't even have to use the chainsaw...they were so dried out and rotted we were able to throw a rope around the upper branches and pull them down. Imagine our surprise when seconds after the first one hits the ground, with a rather loud thud, something flies out of it and into our shed! Whatever it was hit the inside wall of the shed, and then didn't move. We went over to examine the tree, which now lay in several pieces, and found an eggshell inside of it. We had no idea anything had made a nest in it otherwise we wouldn't have taken it down. We were kind of upset at first thinking it was the mother that had flown out, and that the tree hitting the ground had cracked the egg. Dave decided to go into the shed and investigate. At this point we had no idea what it even was...hawk, woodpecker, owl, duck. When he finally located it, he realized it wasn't the mother...it was the baby!!! It had apparently hatched some time ago and the remnants of the egg were still in the nest. By the way, it turned out to be an owl! We told our neighbor about it and she came over with a pet carrier, welding gloves and a net, none of which she needed probably because the little guy was still in shock. We were going to take it to a wildlife sanctuary, but my neighbor has some experience with caring and rehabing animals, both wild and domestic, so she is going to care for him. I'll be sure to post more updates and pictures in the next few weeks and months.

This is one of the reasons I live in a somewhat rural area...you gotta' love the wildlife. People think I'm crazy because I commute approximately 2 1/2 hours a day (140 miles roundtrip), but i love where I live and love my job.