nature is a hoot.

Tonight we blew off swimming lessons for Joe for something that we thought would be way more cool. A friend of our family (we won't say how we know each other because that would blow our cover and show that we are total nerds) is a volunteer with the Wildlife Care Center here in Portland. He emailed us the other day to say that he would be releasing two Western Screech Owls into the wild in SE Portland tonight. It was a no-brainer. I mean, really. Real live owls. Could not miss.

We made the trek to see an adult owl and a baby owl get released. The owls will hang together for awhile before the adult kicks the kid out to fly with her own two wings. The adult had been found stuck to a mouse sticky trap (those things are the devil! do not use!) which required a complicated cleansing process to get her free of the goo.


this may be the first time this kid has smiled at the camera EVER. i don't care if it is fake, i am just happy to see it. i think he was just excited that i let him pee on a tree on the side of the trail. no bathroom that we could see + a kid who has gotta go when he has gotta go means sometimes he gets lucky and gets to go outside.


sam was so squirmy. not into being held at all and unfortunately we didn't take the stroller because we were unsure of the terrain. he missed the release because we were pretty sure the other people were there to see the screech owl, not the screech baby.


old friend sporting a Flint button honoring the lovely city of Flint, Michigan



this was a pretty big deal. the news stations were there! i'm sure they stuck it in the end of the broadcast as the heartwarming story of the day.


oh, let's see that owl. that is the adult. i had no idea the western screech owl was so small. and totally adorable.


here we go! time to see if these babies are going to sink or swim. we thought horrible thoughts of what we would do if they got eaten by another bird as they flew away but they said there are generally no predators for these guys. other than sticky mouse traps of course.


and off they went! they flew away flapping their little wings on to taller branches. it was pretty awesome.


we headed back to our home watching a beautiful sunset over the west hills on the way. i didn't even see the hidden message in this picture till i got home and looked at it on my computer. now do it! you'll feel better. i promise.



tara
xo