Our Screaching Owl

Did I tell you we have a screeching owl? Aparently, this little owl comes back every year and has a litter of owl babies, teaches them to hunt and fly, then she and her new little owl family up and leave out of the blue and we won't see them again for another year. Strangest thing. I learned a LOT about screeching owls this year... first, they don't "hoo" like all the other normal owls do. They literally SCREEEEECH. They sound like what you'd imagine a dying crow would sound like, and they do it from sun-down to just about 4am in the morning. The funnest part is when the babies grew up and joined the screeching. A family of screeching owls right outside our bedroom window. We came to understand why the previous owners tried spraying water on the owls to shut them up. They really don't stop. Although I mus admit, when we'd realized they'd gone, I kinda missed their little form of communicating! (But not really. Just kinda.)Here's the mommy owl checking me out. She's supposed to be sleeping, but I was up on the roof trying to get a good photo. We only actually saw the owls 3 times over the course of 3-4 months. The last time I saw them I felt like they were saying goodbye, because I was hearing them in the backyard (they NEVER went back there to make noise. They were silent hunters and only made noise in their home in the tree) and I wnet back there to see if I could get a peek at them. I walked out my door and looked up at the rooftop, and all of a sudden not one, but 3 beautiful owls launched off of the roof and flew away into the darkness. That was the last night we heard them too. I think they were just getting one last look at how nice our yard looked in the dark. See ya next year owls.