The Nature of Things

Well, the supermoon lunar eclipse/"Blood Moon" was a magnificent sight  for those who were actually able to see it, as you may be able to gather from the time lapse video above. At my house, it was a total bust. We had had light rain throughout the day and the cloud cover was just too dense to be able to view the eclipse. But as the eclipse unfolded unseen above our heads, we did have a bit of excitement in our backyard. Some seldom-seen or heard visitors came calling. Great Horned Owls ! There were two of the birds, one in the old magnolia tree and another in a crape myrtle. They carried on a lengthy conversation with each other before my presence on the patio startled them, I think, and they flew over to the large pine trees in our neighbor's yard and continued hooting there. For some reason, it always surprises me that we are host to Great Horned Owls. I expect Barred Owls , the quintessential owl of southern swamps because the habitat here seems very friendly to them,...