Little Hunter

I’ve been watching at the window
for a little hunter to glide across the garden
towards the house.

I’ve spotted it in the tall trees
and landing on the broken gate,
hunting a mouse.

Sometimes it steeps razor talons in soil,
tugging on earthworms and toppling
when they crack.

I’m hoping that one morning soon
it will venture close with curious, quizzical eyes
and I will stare back.

Kim M. Russell, 2016

little-hunter

Image of Adult Little Owl in the Falling Rain by Craig Churchill, found in an article about the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2012 on http://www.dailymail.co.uk 

My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform

Today Kerry has shared a poem by John Fowles (not) about one of my favourite birds, the owl:

Not an owl on the bough after all;
But a patch of grey light forcing
Through fir. A light-bird.
A bird-light. Returning phantom.
Or poem to my shortening sight.
-John Fowles-

A pair of owls can often be heard late at night or in the early hours in the tall silver birch trees at the bottom of our garden and I have occasionally glimpsed a Little Owl. When I was a child, I used to look out for an owl that lived in the trees on my way to school. He was big and brazen – he didn’t care if we saw him.  But our owls are small and more discreet. Which is what inspired me to write this poem.

27 thoughts on “Little Hunter”

  5. This is just beautiful – what a charming portrait. I especially like the image of the duality of eyes, those of the owl and those of the poet.

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    1. I heard them again at about 2 am but I couldn’t see anything out the window. I’ll keep watching for the little hunter and the other owls I’ve noticed.

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