Dad's Owls

The day after my dad died, my mom and my brothers and I had been working throughout the day and were up very late trying to finish the funeral program, find pictures and memory items and comfort and support each other. I finally decided to head home at about 11:30pm and my brother Paul helped me out to the car. As we were loading the car, we heard a soft noise that sounded like a bird but one I had never heard before. Paul got excited and said he had been hearing that noise and didn’t know what it was. I said I wanted to investigate so we slowly walked across the grass of the church and into the parking lot to find the tree where the sound was coming from. The sprinklers were on and I thought maybe the sound was just the water pressure because it was low, squeaky-like and was continual. Our ears took us to a patch of grass and then up into the tree where we excitedly realized that the sound was coming from an owl perched on one of the branches! I could see its little round head bobbing back and forth but it was too dark to make out what kind of owl it was. I was thinking a pygmy or burrowing owl because it didn’t have horns or a head shape, face or coloring like other owls that I knew. It was not hooting like you would think an owl would, which then made me think that maybe it was a baby or juvenile owl. 

   

 As we were quietly examining its features, another owl flew over to the tree. Then another flew past us into a tree a few feet away and then I could hear another one and saw it perched on top of a pine tree across the parking lot. We ended up counting five owls throughout the next hour and Paul even got a picture of a few of them. Garry and Peter came out and were in awe with us. We marveled at how there had NEVER been owls heard of or seen in that area and never on this street and especially not right outside my parent’s house. What a coincidence that this all happened so soon after my dad died. I went home and studied a little more about different owls and even looked up Native American beliefs about owls. I was fascinated to learn that some Native Americans believe that owls represented both the deceased person and their newly-released soul. After I read this, I knew that this had something to do with my dad. It was not just a coincidence. Rhett even commented that there were five of them, which could represent my dad, uncle Larry, aunt Dorothy and grandma and grandpa Green. Someone else said there were 5 to represent us five kids. 

 The next night we all looked for them again and this time the grandkids and mom came out looking for them. They showed up again Friday night. Then on Saturday night after the funeral, as soon as the sun went down, they were out on the backboard of the basketball hoop in my parent’s driveway and in the backyard and the garden fence next to the driveway. They didn’t go to anyone else’s house but stayed right around my parent’s house. Paul got his spotlight and we went out and took some better picture of them in the trees. At one point, one of the owls flew right over our heads and a single feather dropped, floating almost directly into my hands. I will keep that feather forever. The kids were with me and we were all beside ourselves with excitement. 

When I got home that night, I was determined to find out which species of owls they were. The pictures Paul loaded onto my computer were much clearer than the ones we had taken before so I could use them to distinguish and find more information online. I got home and Rhett had been playing with Madison because I had kept the boys with me. I put them to bed, got on the computer to search for the species and then sat and showed Rhett the pictures Paul had taken. I was so excited to tell him all about the feather and how they stayed near the house.  As we were looking the owls up online, I glanced up at the muted tv and realized that there was a show all about owls on tv! Rhett had turned on Baby TV for Madison to watch while they were playing and hanging out and had never changed it after he put her to sleep, which is really rare and odd for him not to have changed it after that. He had just muted it and now the baby channel was showing owls as a learning show for babies. It was such a crazy synchronicity. We found online that our owls are Western Screech Owls and are, in fact, juveniles. They grow big horns and tend to live in forests, suburban parks or gardens. They are also believed to be particularly powerful along with the Great Horned Owl because of their ear tufts or horns, which associates them with the underworld or with death. 

 I am so thankful for the comfort these owls have brought to our family and I truly believe that they are directly linked to the spirit of my father. I will always have a special place in my heart for these magnificent creatures and hope they will stay for a long time. I want to get nesting boxes for them and place them around my parents home so they will always feel welcome to stay and continue to bring us comfort during this difficult time.