and then tonight...as i walked through the echo echo tunnel into the woods and under the tulip tree - i heard it...the owls screeching...FOUR of them!  one on each side of me, and two up higher and back into the treecover more.  i looked up, and there was a fuzzy, bobbing, terrified fledgling.  his first attempts at flight.  momma hanging close by, and brother across the path from me.  not an ideal situation, as momma is uber-protective at this point and will attack a human or any other thing that she perceives as a threat to her babes.  but such a treat!  i stepped back a few feet and watched for a while.  his brother's flight went well, but the landing - not so much.  momma was right there to protect him until he made it from the ground to the tree's safety.  a day filled with owls.
and now early to bed - my 5am wakeup call from the robins is catching up with me.  tomorrow i have a date with a wax pot and some tasty dyed silk.