City Owl

Yesterday I was in the lab collecting data all day, then Robert picked me up from campus after work.  On the way home, we saw about 800 people biking along the river trail wearing lights and/or bright neon clothing (a thing basically never seen in Austin, where bicyclists wear their Lance Armstrong aspirations on their sleeves as a badge of protection from vehicular manslaughter) and one owl: a barred owl that flew across the street right in front of our car.  It wasn't the snowy owl I was hoping for this winter, but it was satisfying nevertheless to see an owl right here in town.  At our last apartment in Austin, we took a walk around the complex one evening and had a barred owl fly over our heads.  I guess barred owls make good city owls.