When I was a kid growing up in the central Pennsylvania land of hunters, my father and I would sometimes head off into the woods in search of elusive wild things to shoot at. Dad used to joke that our rigorous excursions were more like exercise programs for regional wildlife than actual success filled killing missions. I’m not sure we ever actually “hit” much of what we shot at, excepting the occasional hemlock tree or mountain laurel bush. We often laughed on our drives home about what the woods' animals must be saying to each other as we entered their domain. Something perhaps like, “Oh boy, here comes Goober and Festus again, let’s get ready to rumble. These turkeys couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door.”

Once while exercising the game, we came across something entirely unforeseen. As we combed the hills for self reliant cottontails and grouse, I noticed a brown pile of feathers off in the brush. As I crept closer to investigate, 16 gauge at the ready, I was quite amazed to see a dead great horned owl, in perfectly good shape with no signs of trauma. Puzzled, I hailed dad, who had treed a blue jay that I swear was making fun of him with loud squawks, to come have a look. Neither of us had any idea why this healthy looking owl would be dead. We gathered it up and took it home, not knowing, of course, that this was not an act sanctioned by wildlife preservation officials. Eventually we took the critter to a taxidermist and showed it off for many years as one of our shining moments during hunting season.

I loved that owl and have been fascinated by owls ever since. I was very pleased to learn about the Chewonki showing of live owls at The Lincoln Home in Newcastle and couldn’t wait to visit. But the owl visit was cancelled, so I wrote to Emma Balazs, the owl lady at Chewonki, and asked if I could stop by to see the owls scheduled for The Lincoln Home visit. She was wonderfully gracious and we arranged a date.

Emma looks after many birds, most injured and and rehabbed at Avian Haven in Freedom, Maine. If they can’t return to the wild, Emma tries to accommodate with housing at Chewonki. She has quite a collection of many different owls, and a couple of crows, all of which are trained, or in training for, public visits in schools and such.

Sparky, the great horned owl shown in today’s photo, is pretty chill. I don’t recall why Sparky is disabled — a bad wing perhaps. But with Emma’s help, I was able to enter Sparky's home space and make a few photos. Sparky offered a few peculiar sounds which Emma said were common when a stranger entered its space.

Sparky wasn’t as pretty as “our” owl, but way better off. Thank you Emma, and Sparky.