Cool Barn Owl

We've known for some time now that we have some night time visitors outside our bedroom. I know that sounds creepy, but it isn't, I promise. We hear a pair of owls calling to one another in the area on most nights. I've seen one on a telephone pole across from our deck, and we hear another one up the road (in what I have presumed was) a hay storage shed. (This pair turns out to be great horned owls, rather than what we find below...)

This morning, we all went for a walk up said road, stopping to say hello to the cows who live near the hay storage shed as they basked in the long-overdue sunshine. We continued our walk, with a promise to Violet that we would stop and say hello to the cows again on the way back home. When we stopped the second time, Vi wanted to get out of her cozy, blanket-wrapped wagon/chariot to walk around a bit. As we walked over to the hay shed, Mike mentioned that he found some amazingly huge owl pellets. When I saw them, I immediately attributed them to a coyote rather than an owl. Shortly thereafter, I looked up and saw a beautiful barn owl asleep in the shed's rafters. Mike was right - monstrous owl pellets!

Mike took pictures, which Violet has been talking about all day. I don't actually think that she saw the owl, but she knows we were excited to look at one, and that "Daddy take pictures!"

See the owl? No? Well, he/she is up there on the large beam on the left, almost at the end of the shed. Trust me.

Blurry, but here's a better look at our beautiful new friend:

Link to Violet video coming here...

After the walk, we had to drive to Salt Lake City to drop Mike off at the airport for a trip to San Francisco. We left with enough time to stop at Red Rock Brewing Co. for lunch (amazing portobello sandwiches and double IPA, btw) and then strolled down the street to Pioneer Park. As we then strolled through said park, we noticed the collection of mostly homeless looking folks looking a bit nervous. Many just wandered off, but the handful that had gathered around the playground equipment held their ground. That is, until we barged in and planted ourselves on the nearby swing set. (Don't get too worried, we were in plain sight of many shops, drivers, and so on...no real danger there!) We noticed a fair bit of what really appeared to be drug dealing, and were relieved a bit when the dealers and buyers gave us dirty looks and then left. I guess we interrupted their business, but hey, they interrupted our swinging!

After swinging came sliding down the slides, then a walk back up to our car. We dropped off Mike (at which point Violet was out like a light...she got a goodbye kiss anyway, though) and Vi and I drove on home. After lots of playing, I decided an owl pellet dissection was in order. I found four rodent skulls, many vertebrae and ribs, several rather large mandibles, a collection of tibia, fibula, and scapula, and an assortment of other bones as well as a whole lot of dark gray fur.

This is one of the smaller pellets we picked up. They are HUGE!

Overview of the contents of the above pellet.

Closer view of mandibles, skulls, and assorted other parts and pieces.

UPDATE!

So I've done a bit of research, and found that not only did we find a cool barn owl, but we must also have great horned owls, as their calls are what we hear at night. How exciting, two species knocking at our doorstep! They probably live in the large pine trees across the street from the hay shed.