Brushing my teeth each morning, I always glance out the bathroom window. The second floor view allows me to peruse the entire back lawn and some of the woods. Frequently there are birds, animals, various plantings or changing weather patterns to catch my attention.
This summer there has been a mystery. On quite a few occasions, I have awakened to find splatters of white paint at the base of my favorite tree. I planted the native Red Maple, also called Swamp Maple, almost 30 years ago. It was just a stick at the time, but the yellow tag said it was a fast grower and had beautiful autumn color. Sounded good to me.
Now, tall and leafy, it rules over the entire back lawn with its stature and dappled shade. Robins have nested in it. Other birds have found insects on it, and my boys once played "hide and seek" around it. But someone else has been using it too. Who?
First I thought my husband hadn't clean up a yard project, but that wasn't it. Then I thought about animals marking their territory. Possibly, but the strong white color baffled me. Then I began to think about birds. Poop usually had a mixture of colors, one of which was white. The amount of spatter suggested something large. Turkey or owl, I narrowed it down.
Over the years, wild turkeys had roosted overnight in some of our trees. Hmmm...then there was the local Great Horned Owl. I had heard about him from neighbors, and finally enjoyed my own sighting of him just last spring. Definitely the owl was a contender.
The answer arrived in my mailbox with the latest issue of Backyard Bird magazine. The main focus of the current issue was "owls". And one of the articles discussed "whitewash", the telltale splatter that a Great Horned Owl would leave as a signature poop.I yelled with pleasure at the discovery! My visitor had been the huge, yellow eyed owl, each time leaving his personal calling card on the barked base of the tree.
Another way to read the yard has been added to my nature vocabulary. And this, in turn, has expanded my ever growing respect for the natural world that surrounds my life.
