wandering free and uneasy12 February 2025
11 Feb 2025 Poland Woods, PM
For the past several weeks the barred owl has not been in the hemlock tree. The last time I saw it there was the week of Christmas, before it really snowed and temperatures dropped significantly. Perhaps there is some correlation—do owls or other birds of prey take shelter, like a mini hibernation, during extreme cold snaps? The hawks haven’t been deterred at all. Today, there were two deer at the base of the hemlock tree—a mother and child—and still no owl. I can’t recall a time in the past year, morning or evening, I visited this tree and the owl wasn’t there. Both of these creatures has a sort of mythopoetic significance to me, and I get the feeling that the deer have symbolically replaced the owl.
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nathanlovestrees
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