One of the things I regret most when it comes to wildlife encounters was not having a camera ready when I came across a very large Great Horned Owl that was stuck in my batting cage in the backyard. Frequently, smaller birds take shelter in the cage when hiding from predators, and this owl must have been hungry enough as it forced its way through a very narrow opening on top of the cage. Being shocked to find this beautiful animal and not knowing how to deal with this situation, I decided to wait and see if this owl would find its way back out, but she was not able. I used a pool skimmer to get the owl to get down to a level where I was able to grab it, and I took a large winter coat and grabbed ahold of what seemed like 20lbs of solid muscle. I took the owl out of the cage and let her lay on the grass. I was afraid she was hurt because she was sprawled out and not moving. I watched for a couple of minutes and then I decided to go grab a bowl and water, but as soon as I took a couple of steps and looked back to the owl, she was silently gliding across the top of the soybean field. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
One of the things I regret most when it comes to wildlife encounters was not having a camera ready when I came across a very large Great Horned Owl that was stuck in my batting cage in the backyard. Frequently, smaller birds take shelter in the cage when hiding from predators, and this owl must have been hungry enough as it forced its way through a very narrow opening on top of the cage. Being shocked to find this beautiful animal and not knowing how to deal with this situation, I decided to wait and see if this owl would find its way back out, but she was not able. I used a pool skimmer to get the owl to get down to a level where I was able to grab it, and I took a large winter coat and grabbed ahold of what seemed like 20lbs of solid muscle. I took the owl out of the cage and let her lay on the grass. I was afraid she was hurt because she was sprawled out and not moving. I watched for a couple of minutes and then I decided to go grab a bowl and water, but as soon as I took a couple of steps and looked back to the owl, she was silently gliding across the top of the soybean field. It was a beautiful sight to behold.