We got off the couch, out of the house and made it to Forest Park, which was open, but it is always open. The sun was out, and I took advantage of this rare of late event and flew my drone. The sun was very bright. The water in Pagoda Circle was frozen and people were taking advantage of this opportunity to go across the ice to the island and walk around the bandstand. I flew my drone until my hands got too cold and then packed it up. Anne then had the idea of getting a hot chocolate at the Boat House, which was an excellent idea. Especially when the hot chocolates were spiked. Outside the Boathouse, we saw a young woman with a huge camera. She was photographing Juncos at the time, but when we asked her about owls, she had seen them too. She gave us detailed directions on where to find them. Anne walked over there, while I fetched the car.
Rendezvousing at the designated location, we ran into Mark the Owl Guy. This man seemingly spends most of his evenings out in the dark and cold looking for owls. He has been doing this for decades now. His favorite owl is a Great-horned owl that he has named Charles. He pointed Charles out to us, who was exactly where the woman had said he would be. Mark also took us to see May, Charles’ latest paramour. Charles is at least twenty-two and May is his sixth mate. No one knows for sure how long Great-horned owls live, but Charles is certainly in his later years. May and Charles became an item last year, but no owlets resulted or even any mating occurred. Probably because May was too young. Hopefully this year will be different. At his age, Charles with this May-December relationship might be considered a letch, but that label is too anthropomorphic for me. Since Mark names these owls, this situation must not have escaped him.
