By Wanda D’Agostino
I had just finished clearing off the table from our Christmas brunch when the phone rang. It was a young woman from Manchester who said an owl had flown into her window and was lying on her patio. She was afraid it was dying.
I told her to gently throw a towel over it, put it in a box and bring it right over. While I waited for her to arrive, I prepared a cage and defrosted two mice. In a little while, she arrived carrying a large cardboard box which we placed on my dining room table.
You can imagine my great surprise as I carefully opened the box and a very lively tawny screech owl flew out! It circled the dining room twice and then headed for our living room where it immediately spotted our Christmas tree and landed amid the ornaments! It looked so comfortable there, I let it rest and grabbed my camera to take this picture.
The owl did well, and after a week of TLC (and dozens of mice!!) was released on New Year’s Day back where he was found. I know from now on every Christmas tree I put up will seem empty without my real live ornament—my Christmas owl!