Who doesn’t like surprises?

Pleasant surprises are both joy and delight. Did you know there is a surprise waiting for you-outside? Expect one each time you go out. Some days there will be no surprise. On other days the nature surprises will be multiple. In my opinion one of the best time for surprises is the transition from winter to spring. It is a time to find surprises in bunches-all in a day.

Most nature surprises are enjoyable. Some are unprecedented, just awesome. Nature surprises bring pleasure…all are satisfying to the mind and spirit. But, a nature surprise because of death is the least favored of nature’s unexpected. Death in nature first brings shock. But wait…death is part of every life cycle and food chain in the world outdoors. We don’t like it when things die. We forget that death permits other life forms to live. We should not be surprised, but we are.

Recently, my wife and I stepped outside to begin a walk. Two days earlier a snow storm had covered our region. There was at least 5 inches of new snow on our side yard. It was impossible to miss the dark object laying in the snow on the east edge of our lawn. My first thought was pheasant. The coloration was right. Even from the side of the house across the yard it was clear that a bird lay on the snow. With the storm lasting nearly 48 hours, it seemed probable that a pheasant had starved. That was my first thought. Walking closer, it was clearly an owl. Quickly my mind thought great horned owl. They live in our neighborhood.

Upon picking it up, my mistake was clear. It was too small. Great horned have much thicker feather tufts which resemble ears than this bird did. This bird was missing the tuft on the right side of its head. But size and long shape confirmed the bird was a long-eared owl. Holding the beautiful bird in my gloved hands brought sadness and regret. Over and over the marvel of its feather patterns and symmetry impressed upon me that this bird was like all other birds a true miracle. After taking photos of it, we properly disposed of the bird, first choice was burial of the bird had the ground been unfrozen.

This is no ordinary surprise.

Long eared owls prefer conifer trees to roost in at night. Their diet however is found in open grasslands. They eat small mammals…mice, voles, pocket gophers…grassland inhabitants. Since we have spruce trees near the place the owl was found, it may have roosted there overnight. Over two decades have passed since we first moved to this place. Never before has a long-eared owl been seen…not perched or in flight over head. How much of a surprise is an event which occurs once in over 20 years? The surprise is slightly tempered by the fact that few people see long-eared owls. Even biologists know little about them. One resource stated, the “status of the long-eared owl is not well known. Long-eared owls are a mystery to ornithologists.

It was a very significant surprise to find it near our spruce trees. It saddened me to find such a magnificent bird dead. Did I say death is part of life in nature? This reminder is for me as well.

There were no signs of struggle. There was no blood anywhere on its feathers. Neither wing was injured. What caused its death? This is another part of the delight nature surprises bring. It’s mystery. There were no eye witnesses to the death of this owl. There were scattered feathers and a sunken bowl in the snow the size of its body. The bird must have sat there long enough for the snow to melt from its body heat. The scattered feathers are a puzzle. So are the many tracks in the snow…only bird tracks…my assumption is owl tracks. Was there another owl?

It’s both surprise and mystery.

You may not be surprised as we were. Long-eared owls are not common. But…there are surprises to be found every time we spend time outside. Nature surprises are free. They are often beautiful. They always cause us to think. Looking for nature surprises provide us with another benefit-understanding how the world around us works. Why was the long-eared owl beneath our spruce trees? My theory is starvation. The bird lives on small rodents and snow covered the ground making hunting for them difficult if not impossible. It could not find food.