Waiting for an owl

There is a red maple tree next to my house. After it was damaged in the tornado that came near the house in 1998, a family of flickers carved out cavity in the tree to build their nest. Their babies came and went, as babies do. The cavity has gone unused since. But almost every day, I go to the window and look, hoping that one day I’ll see some owls making a home there.

If and when that happens, it may look a lot like this. This is a screech owl, sleeping in a tree in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park. My friend Karen McGinnis, an excellent photographer with an impressive portfolio of many owl species, had found this guy and posted a picture of him (or her). When I asked where it was, she most kindly told me exactly where I could find him (or her).

It was Christmas Day, 2016. In keeping with our tradition, my wife and I had gone to the movies. “Hidden Figures” opened that day, playing in only one theater in Atlanta. We went to the noon matinee—the first screening of the movie in the city, and loved the film. Afterwards, we drove over to Piedmont Park and went to the spot Karen had described. It was about 3:00 p.m., a time when all good owls should be fast asleep (we’ll make an exception for burrowing owls, which work a day shift). And there he or she was.

Ornithologists will tell you that this is the red morph of the screech owl. They also come in gray. Whatever color, I really hope I look out my window one day and see one sleeping in that nice cavity in my red maple tree.