Right and Left (Part 1)

“Help your brother’s boat across, and your own will reach the shore.”

— Hindu Proverb

I hadn’t seen the two siblings together for many weeks and, frankly, figured the antsy one had moved on or didn’t survive.

And then this morning, after spying on one of the youngsters, the crows started causing a ruckus nearby. The young owl sat in its usual spot, took note of me, flew over to the crow crowd, and landed a few trees away. I followed the path up and around for a closer look and couldn’t believe my eyes.

Two owls!

The siblings are together!

The mobbing crows also captured the attention of an older woman who came looking for the owls. She tried to take photos with her phone while being pulled by her 90lb brick house of a dog.

Every time she framed the photo, her dog yanked the leash looped around her wrist, pulling her planted feet out of place and messing up her shot. She scolded the dog to stop moving.

Maybe because of the spectacle or maybe because they were bored, the crows decided to move on.

I could tell from the woman’s angle that she only saw the one owl. So I walked over to her to point out the second one. She thanked me, and I offered to hold her dog’s leash so she could take some unhindered photos. She reluctantly (out of consideration for me) handed over the leash, and we chatted for a bit.

“I figured they were close when I heard the crows just now,” she said. “Yesterday they were down by the beach,”

“Your dog is really rooting around for something over here,” I pointed out, both of my arms extended and leash taut while the dog pulled to dig its face into the brush.

“Oh, he probably found something good to eat, like grass or some shit.” She said as she continued her photo session.

Suddenly ready to not be an accomplice to her dog eating something disgusting, I handed over the leash. It was too early in the morning for the visual. The lady thanked me, wished me a good day, and walked back down the wooded path.

After she left, one of the owls flew next to the other, and they started mildly biting and clawing at each other. In true sibling fashion, one seemed to harass the other more. This was behavior I watched when they were small. Who knew in their full-grown size they were young enough yet to act juvenile.

If you know me personally and we’ve talked in the last few months, I’ve mentioned this owl family.

Until this week, no one asked me if I named the owlets until I was visiting with my friend, Molly.

“You know, I’ve been waiting for someone to ask me that,” I said. “You’re the first person.”

“Well, what did you name them?” Molly asked.

“Right and Left.” I said.

Molly looked at me sideways and burst out laughing. I guess she was expecting something else.

I explained, “I look at their pictures a lot, and between some markings and their behaviors, that’s what I call them. When they were little, one was always on the right, and one was always on the left. But it took me a long time to distinguish them.”

As you may notice, they look identical in size and coloring, and they match Owl Mom in both regards, so I am also concluding that they are female.

It was special and delightful to watch the interaction. At one point, Right’s talons were hooked onto Left’s wing. At another point, they appeared to groom each other’s mouths. Then, a moment later, Left got fed up and flew off to a nearby branch.

I couldn’t take my eyes off them as the morning sun rose and poked holes through the tree tops.

Too bad that the lady left before the action started. Usually, I’m the one with poor timing.

But here I was zoomed in with delight while Left kept an eye on me, making me feel like I should leave. So I took my note and walked away. When I turned to look back, I took some of the most beautiful photos yet.

But for that, you will have to wait until Part 2.