Around 4:30 this morning the sound of hundreds of angry crows jostled me from
the last of of my night's sleep. The noise was so jarring and close I threw
on some clothing and shoes and headed out on the trail through the heavily
wooded "back yard" to see what the heck was going on.

Low flying crows were all over the woods, swooping in and out of the alders
and cottonwoods. Toward the end of the trail I finally saw what had set the
neighborhood crows off on their noisy "caw-fest".

It was a huge owl. The owl was about the size of the crows, but chunkier.
It's color was light brown with lots of white. It didn't seem to have eye
discs or "ears". Was this a snowy owl? Great Horned? It wasn't a Barn Owl
- I've seen them many times before.

At 5:37 AM all is now calm in this corner of Snohomish County.

Lydia Gaebe Bishop
Somewhere near Lake Cassidy, Snohomish County, WA