Here's the story from Susan Stephens: "On Tuesday, Dec 3rd, I was still sleeping when I thought my subconscious told me it heard a thump against a window.  I didn’t wake up since I was in that 'twilight sleep' and forgot about that happening when I actually did wake up.  About 10 a.m. I went out the front door to go for a walk.  I saw something out of the corner of my right eye and it was this little cutie sitting there about 5 feet from the glass front door on the cement apron in front of our garage."

"I was so amazed I froze, not wanting to scare it, then squatted down and gently talked to it to see if I could get a response.  It just sat there staring back at me.  I got goose bumps looking into its big open eyes, then finally each eye blinked individually.  It didn’t appear to be injured, both wings looked in good shape and there were no feathers on the ground.  I very slowly backed up and went into the house to get my camera hoping it would still be there when I returned.  It was and that’s when I took the photos. My neighbor, Mary and I looked at where the owl was and decided it probably had flown into the reflection of the glass front door and was dazed. Then the little owl turned its head about 2/3 around and look in a different direction and suddenly flew into another outside corner area by the garage. Mary and I walked over to its new location and then it flew up and made a sharp right up and over the garage and out of our sight. It headed towards a forested area. We walked over in that direction and looked around but didn’t see it again. Happily, I guess it was okay!"

These tiny owls are forest dwellers and quite nocturnal. What this owl was doing near a meadow on The Sea Ranch is a mystery, but we are glad he/she recovered and flew back to the forest.

Thanks to Susan for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

Wow, we had a pretty vigorous rainstorm come through today, and the ocean is roaring! I love (near) winter storms.