GREAT GRAY OWL

A few seasons past, the lemming population in the Far North (like northern
Canada) had diminished and the Great Gray Owls fled south to find food.
The call went out from the "Rare Bird Alert" system of the Audubon Society
that lots of Great Gray Owls were to be seen in northern Minnesota and
Wisconsin. Elizabeth and I packed up our stuff (Elizabeth's cameras, our
maps, binoculars, bird guides, and car food) and headed north! We were
not disappointed . . .  the following is one of the poems that grew out of that
excursion.

                              GREAT GRAY OWL

                       She floats moth-like, then glides.
                           Plunges into crusted snow.
                     Curved beak, talons hidden among
                                      soft feathers.
                         She rises with a small rodent
                    extracted from its once secure tunnel.
                                 Betrayed by sound.