A Long-Eared Owl Through the Classroom Window

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The pictures were taken in November 2008.    I looked out the classroom window at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  Much to my amazement and joy I saw two birds.  They were vying for the same territory.  There was a Cooper’s hawk trying to persuade the long-eared owl to vacate the pine tree by flying near it several times. 
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But the owl would have none of it.  It stood its ground or should I say perched its tree.  After about a half an hour of my watching the hawk flew off.
The owl stayed in the tree all afternoon.  So I invited some students into the room to see it.  They were duly impressed.
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At one point in the many times that I came back to the window, I must have startled the owl because it puffed its feathers up so much that it looked like a huge ball.  I felt so privileged to have witnessed it.
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I was staying late to write report cards which was not an easy task with this wonderful bird sitting just beyond the window. 
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It continued to sit in the pine tree into the darkness of that winter evening.  It was still there when I finally went home too distracted to work.
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Marlene Danicki
(Marlene’s school is in the Bathurst and Harbord area of Toronto}

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