That's who

We've become accustomed to the variety of birds populating the wooded parkland adjacent to our house. Mostly we see species common to rural-suburban areas like this, but it's not unusual for waterfowl -- Canada geese, mallards, great blue herons -- to glide overhead. A pair of red-tailed hawks hunts the clearings nearby.

Late last evening my wife and I were surprised by a throaty whooo-hoo-hoo-hoo coming from a stand of hardwoods to the northeast. It had been years since I'd heard a great horned owl in the wild and this one, judging by the deep-toned call, is a male.

It was a very cool moment.

We summoned our 15-year-old outside to listen, even though he's typically unimpressed by such things. This time, however, he was as intrigued as we were, standing quietly and following the sound of our newly discovered wild neighbor as it moved through the trees.

That was a pretty cool moment, too.