Exploration

Photo by Ryan Burg

A highly curious juvenile barred owl wanted to experience the world beyond the woods. I watched, somewhat bewildered, as this owlet and one of its siblings made their way to the very edge of this forest next to a parking lot. Once perched, they shrieked and bobbed their heads, highly focused on the paved surface below them. I couldn't understand why, but it was pretty clear they wanted to fly to the ground, so I slowly laid down on my stomach and waited. After about five minutes of getting tortured by the mosquitos, sure enough one of the two descended from its perch and proceeded to jump around/ make these little hopping motions on the pavement. After realizing that pavement is very hard and not nearly as fun as expected, it jumped onto this curb, threw me a quick glance and disappeared back into the woods. Your guess is as good as mine!