The other day as we got back to the cabin after a walk with the dogs, Lynne started pointing toward the front of the cabin and placing her hands next to her head with her index fingers pointed upwards. I got the dogs into the cabin quickly because I thought she was signaling the presence of a moose, elk or deer with antlers. However, she was pointing to a Great Horned Owl that was sitting on top of a dead tree right in front of the cabin. We quickly grabbed cameras.

This is a shot of the owl looking away, so we see the back of his head.

It was getting dark, so mostly what we got were silhouettes of the owl. But, I tweeked a few photos so you can see a little of his mottled coloring.

Profile shot.

Looking toward me, you can kind of see his eyes and the white ring around his neck.

And here is a video where you can hear the two types of calls we often hear. The first is an "alert" call, and we've also seen that it can be a mating call. The final call is what we typically expect; the common "who who" call.

This afternoon, we got quite a nice hail storm. Unfortunately, the hail is knocking all the beautiful leaves from the aspen trees.

But, it is bringing us some much needed moisture. And, provides and excuse to build the year's first fire in the open-hearth fireplace.