The beauty of a Barn Owl...

...continued from the previous post of Priscilla, the Barred Owl.
Storm, the Barn Owl, made her appearance with a raucous flourish any Barn Owl would be proud of--unrelenting screams! The first time I heard a Barn Owl scream was in 1990. Rick and I lived in Maineville back then, and barns still dotted the countryside. Our second-floor bedroom hung beside a grove of towering pines that bordered a farmer's field. It was cold out that night, but for some reason we had opened the windows so we could listen to the wind in the pines. The screaming started at about 4:00 a.m. "OMG...is someone being murdered? That sound can't be human...are Banshees real?" The eerie night sounds started to fade, and it finally dawned on us that we were listening to two Barn Owls calling to each other in the pines outside our window. The calls were amazing and terrifying, and I loved hearing them...

Storm, the Barn Owl, making her (or maybe "his") appearance...punctuated with an exclamation mark!

Storm is gorgeous. I've always thought Barn Owls were beautiful, but seeing one up close blew me away. The colors in her feathers are carmelly warm and rich, and her heart-shaped face is extraordinary.

...I couldn't get enough of the patterns and colors in her wings and feathers.

...this is Storm's good wing, her other wing is partially amputated. She got it caught in a barn door, and it couldn't be saved.

...she backs up her beauty with terrifyingly sharp and strong talons.

...snowy white feathers tipped in carmel.

...beautiful.

RAPTOR, Inc. is a non-profit organization committed to the preservation of birds of prey. RAPTOR stand for the Regional Association for the Protection and Treatment of Raptors. Members of RAPTOR, Inc. rehabilitate and care for injured birds of prey until they can be released back into the wild. Click here for RAPTOR, Inc.'s HackBack newsletter and to learn how to donate to the organization, volunteer, or sponsor a banded raptor.