Snail Spirals

I really am trying to organize my pretty pictures into a coherent post or two, but I keep getting sidetracked by other cool things to post about.  To wit:



I've been hearing this really, really soft bird sound at night recently.  One of those almost-not-heard-at-all sounds that teases me just as I'm falling asleep.  It sounded like a screech owl, but honestly I was so sleepy all three times I heard it, that I wasn't sure I wasn't dreaming.

This afternoon Emma was out playing in the neighborhood, and came running inside to get me in a great froth of excitement.  She hauled me out to look at the trees on the next block down, because she had seen BABY OWLS!

These are juvenile western screech owls, and they are still half-and-half baby down and adult feathers.  So the mystery of the night dream sounds is solved, and my sleepy mind identified them correctly.

How cool is that??!