Barred Owl in the Cataloochee Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains...and a bear in Asheville, NC!

My cousin, Steve, who lives with his family in beautiful, beautiful Asheville, North Carolina just sent me these shots of a Barred Owl. He, Kim and Zander were camping in the Cataloochee Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when they stumbled upon this unsuspecting slumbering owl. Looks like he groggily opened his eyes for the second shot. What a beauty!

A Barred Owl sleeping deep in the woods of the Great Smoky Mountains...

(For close-up photos of a Barred Owl, click here.)

Here is another photo Steve sent me. This one from his backyard....what do you think?


Isn't that cool? This guy weighs about 400 lbs according to the wildlife biologist who measured its tracks and studied several photos of it. The picture is about 4 years old, but the bear visits his neighborhood regularly. There are also smaller bears that come around. Coyotes visit as well as bobcats. Last year a few neighborhood cats went missing... Also last year they had a hen turkey and 16 chicks staying in their yard. The fowl seemed to like roosting on their compost pile. If I list out all the birds that visit his backyard, the post would go on forever. Needless to say, I'm jealous... Asheville, NC is a birder's wonderland.