The owl is back!

Monday afternoon we kept hearing a bunch of Blue Jays raising cane in the back yard. When I finally paid attention and looked out, there were 4 or 5 Jays clustered in the pecan tree out back just squawking!  At first I was amazed at the number of Jays - we have a mating pair in the area and we see a Jay from time to time, but here was a flock of Jays and they all had issues!

From time to time an adventurous Jay would swoop down to the opening of the owl house and hurl an invective or two, then fly back to a branch so it dawned on me that there was something in there that the Jays did not want in there! Since the owl house has been unoccupied for about a year except for brief visits by an inquisitive squirrel, I immediately thought that the Jays had trapped a nest-robbing squirrel in the owl house.

However, in the back of my mind I began thinking that maybe an owl showed up this morning (I was pretty sure it had not come earlier because there had been some really rowdy football games in the backyard over the last few days and evenings). So, when evening fell (and the Jays finally gave it up) I kept checking and sure enough, up popped an owl!

I have no way of knowing if it is the same owl that visited last January or not. They all...uh, well, they all look alike to me. Looking back at the picture from last January, this owl may be slightly larger (a year older, perhaps?).

Same owl or some other screech owl who heard about our motel and is only passing through, we are happy to see him. Her? Whatever.