Two Different Kinds of Bird-lovers

The wolf and the owl

Back when my soul-mate wolf-dog was still alive she had a competitive encounter with an owl. The owl won.

That was a very rare outcome. My wolf-dog was an expert bird killer. I once saw her jump seven feet in the air and grab a bird in mid-flight right out of the air.

During the sixteen and a half years my wolf-dog and I were married we were inseparable but we did have one issue that presented a problem. The problem stemmed from something we both had in common; we loved birds.

I love watching birds, I love listening to their music, I like feeding them, I like talking about them and writing about them. I’m a bird freak who loves birds.

My wolf-dog loved birds, too; especially for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

She came to work with me every day at the bookstore and, during warmer months, I would leave the back door open so that she could go in and out as she pleased.

My wolf-dog was a beta female. In wolf society the beta females are the baby sitter dogs. While the alpha females and all the males went out a-hunting the beta females would stay in the den babysitting all the children.

To her way of thinking, I was the alpha male of the pack. The pack consisted of my family — and by extension anyone I was friendly with and anyone who came into our home or into the bookstore.

Beta females like to occasionally make gestures of love and respect to the alpha male. Sometimes they will bring them lunch.

So, too, did my beloved wolf-dog show me that she loved me by bringing me gifts. She would go out to the backyard then later come back inside with a dead bird in her mouth. She would come to me sitting at my desk working and she would place the dead bird at my feet then looked at me with those heart-melting brown eyes.

She was telling me that she loved me! So how could I scold her for killing birds; something that was part of her nature and which she loved doing?

But how do I get her to stop killing birds? My heart ached every time I looked down at my feet to see a dead bird.

I finally had a long talk with her. I think she understood. She still killed birds but not nearly as often.

Now, a dog widower of eight years, I still think about my wolf-dog just about every day. I had not thought about the owl incident, though, for several years and I think what triggered the memory was an owl encounter I had last night.

I was walking home from work. The sun had already set but there was still a hint of twilight. From the corner of my eye I saw a big flapping of wings. I could not hear it but I could see it. After a few flaps the large bird held its wings out straight and horizontal and began to glide through the air.

We have a lot of owls around these here parts but this one was bigger than any I have seen. There was enough light to positively identify it as an owl but not which species. I followed its gliding flight through the air until the owl landed on the very tippy top of a pine tree. It was beautiful.

I was walking from the south to the north and the owl flew over my path from the left to the right, meaning from the west to the east. I wonder what that means.

On that day I went out the back door of the bookstore to get some fresh air. As usual, the wolf-dog was right behind me. Once outside, I stopped in my tracks as I saw a large white owl just standing on the ground in the middle of the yard.

The wolf-dog saw the owl just a second later but she did not break stride. Instead, she shifted gears and tore after that owl as fast as she could. The owl began flapping its wings and rising into the air. I could see that my doggie was about to jump in the air to catch the owl before it could fly away.

But it did not happen that way. The owl did not fly up to get away. Instead, it flew with talons outstretched directly towards the wolf-dog’s face! My doggie hit the brakes and froze at which point the owl flew upwards and away.

Watching that set my heart a-pounding. Who needs Animal Planet? I got to experience that in my very own backyard!

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