Ghost Owl

We walked this evening up from the house to Pica’s office and immediately heard the click-click-click-click of a barn owl, and saw it flying low over the house. A little further along, we heard another barn owl to the north over the alfalfa field, perhaps hunting along the newly plowed edge of the field. Near Pica’s office, we saw another barn owl — we believe there are two nesting pairs along the half-mile stretch between home and office.

A particularly well-travelled birding friend of ours thinks Davis may be the most reliable place in the country to find barn owls. There are several nest boxes over parking lots downtown, and certainly a number of pairs down this way. It’s either feast or famine with barn owls — they’re a hard bird to find in Massachusetts.

Many folks believe they are the origins of ghost myths. Cosmopolitan birds, all white underneath, making creepy-scary noises at night.