Hooter

I heard a owl for the first time the other night. Actually it mustn't be the first time, because the sound came out familiar to my ears, only I didn't make the cognitive connection between the hooting sound and the animal that's making it, until that night.

You need to turn up the volume to the hear the hooter. It's in the background, masked by the incessant city chatter, but distinctly audible if you know what to listen to.

Owls in the city? Right beside my apartment? I only have limited knowledge about birds, but this discovery didn't come as much a surprise as it could have been. Subconsciously, I suspect more that a few nocturnal critters had ventured into the city domain, sneaking back and forth across the tacit boundaries of civilization and wilderness.

Believe it or not, a night heron once perched atop the fountain in our front yard, drooling over the carps, and just this morning at 4 o'clock, I ran into the spotted cat, strolling into the basement just as I opened the gate, as if I were the doorman, she a resident.