The one thing I love about owls is how overly graceful they are. You can be in the woods in the late fall or winter where the snow acts like a muffler for most "woodland" sounds. If you're lucky you'll hear one in the distance. You can call back to them, but they aren't stupid and think you're actually an owl.

However, they are also curious, so if you keep up calling them, sometimes they'll come check you out. The thing is, you don't know that they've decided to come check you out until you're buzzed by them.

Their wingspan is very ominous when coming right at you. It'll scare the crap out of you and awe you at the same time.

There used to be a rescue outside of town when I was a kid. My mom was coming home after dropping me and my sister off for school. She saw this massive bird on the side of the road flapping one wing and spinning around on the ground.

She had a big box in the car (she always had crafts and crap to haul crafts in the car) and put it beside the owl. Little guy jumped right in, he was looking for any kind of shelter that could be found. She slowly tipped the box right side up and closed it without actually sealing the box.

When she got home she called the rescue (we had a magnet from the year before when we went to the zoo and attended a learning seminar that the rescue was having at the zoo) and they asked her a few questions.

About 20 minutes later a lady from the rescue came to our house. My mom got a patch for being a protector of the owl. Apparently the owl had hit a power line or something mid flight and dislocated its wing. The lady from the rescue felt around the wing and in a single motion popped it back in.

The owl went from about 4 feet wide to about 8 inches wide when his wings were folded. She popped him into a crate and took him away.

We got a picture from the rescue later that fall. The little (okay not so little with the wings spread) guy had made a full recovery and the picture was of him getting released and flying away towards the horizon.

Apparently he was on some endangered species watch protection list. So even if my mom had called animal control, they would have just called one of the state certified rescues. Apparently my mom avoided a bunch of middle men with her call directly to the rescue.

They are very docile even when in duress.

Suffice to say, owls are big and scary, but should be respected instead of feared.