Who's there?

A couple of years ago my husband and I were looking in a pine tree, after dark, for a geocache. Instead of the cache we ran nose-to-nose, er um nose-to-beak, with a Northern Saw-whet Owl. Of course, at the time we hadn’t a clue what kind of owl it was. It was the tiniest, cutest, little owl I had ever seen. It sat on the branch in the glow from our flashlight as we quietly ooed and awed. I only had a cell phone camera with me and I snapped one crappy photo of him.

My husband emailed the photo to someone in the conservation department and the owl was identified for us. The Saw-whet we saw was tiny; it could have easily fit in my palm. On average they’re only about 7-8.5 inches long and weigh 2.5-3.5 ounces

I saw this owl at a zoo, and I thought the tag said Saw-Whet and the owl was small, but comparing these photos to the bird book it just doesn't look right.  But I can’t see any owl without thinking of that night I was kissing distance to that miniature owl.

And because I'm dying sick *cough* and my time is up for *ugh - a-choo* Letter O in Martha's A-Z Photo Challenge, this post is pulling double duty.  Sorry. *cough cough*  See, even this Barred Owl is ill.

A-choo!