Owls

Last night we completed our annual owl route near Pierz, Minnesota which kept me up WAY PAST my bedtime.  We know the route pretty well now so we felt comfortable to wait for the day to end by shopping at the butcher shop and having supper at a bar in Pierz.  The weather wasn't too bad. The wind was mild and got less strong as the route went on.  The temperature was just above freezing.  The sky was almost completely covered with clouds but because the moon was so full it didn't seem completely dark out there.  The roads were dry and in good shape.  We stood at each of the ten stops for five minutes, waiting in the dark to hear what we could hear.  I find it very unusual to stand for so long and depend only on my sense of hearing.  I listen intently and sometimes I think this forges new pathways inside my brain.  I am the owl hunter.  Cars going by irritate me because I can't hear as well as they pass.  Passing cars on dirt roads are especially irritating because they drive slower and take forever to go by me.   One owl was heard but not by me.  A great horned owl hooted twice at one stop.  I did hear plenty of Canadian geese, dogs, dogs who pretend to sound like owls, pigs, chorus frogs, and wood frogs.  At one stop we heard a whooping sound.  My first thought was a tribe of Indians on the war path.  (Who watches too many old cowboy shows on MeTV)?  As they came closer I could make out separate voices.  These birds were bigger than geese but did not have the super loud noise of a Trumpeter Swan.  We guessed tundra swans and when I looked up the sound of tundra swans on the Cornell Lab or Ornithology website today I think we were correct.  The flock of swans came closer and closer and by the sound I could tell they were right over our heads.  But I couldn't see a thing against the dark and cloudy sky.  I even turned my head lamp on to illuminate what had to be a low flying swan but the light just dissipated away.  It's thrilling moments like these and the good company that keep me on the owl route year after year after year.  .