I ride a beach bicycle to work nowadays and had an issue the other morning I'd like to share. My commute consist of a 1/2 mile dirt driveway through 70 year old pines to a locked gate. After that it is about 300 yards of paved road onto another dirt road and then through the back gate at the plant. Takes about 15 minutes. Anyway, on this particular morning everything was going along as usual as I made my way to the gate, unlocked it and pushed the bicycle through. When I stepped back to lock the gate (with my head about 24" from the sphere at the same elevation) I heard something go to raising all kinds of heck. I looked up and there was the resident owl roosting on the sphere. He got all puffed up so I eased away from him and shined the bicycle headlight onto him and snapped this pic with the camera phone. I think I woke him up. Needless to say I did not get the gate locked that morning.

edited to mention using a camera phone to snap the pic

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Jim

I love owls, they are beautiful and majestic birds... and they are silent when they fly....

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1987 Mercedes 300SDL; SOLD
1985 Mercedes 300D; SOLD
2006 Honda Pilot - wife's ride; 122K;
1995 Toyota Land Cruiser - 3X locked; 182K

Whoa, Cool! It's about time for the owls to come back and roost around here soon, I cant wait. they hoot back and forth, it's very relaxing

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

Nice! We have a pair living in the woods behind our house. I get worried when I don't hear them. They're like the neighborhood lucky omens.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

You are lucky to have such a good guard on duty at your gate. Make sure you dont upset him!!

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

That would totally freak out my uncle's wife. She's Filipino, and believes that when you hear an owl hooting, it's the devil calling, and she gets flat-out terrified. She'd probably have a nervous breakdown if she thought one was roosting anywhere near their house.

Let's hear it for owls!

(And yes, if you didn't catch it, I hate that nosy b###h)

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

get one of those fake owls and a voice box... you can see where I'm going with this lol

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

We have the barred owl. The don't make a soft Hoo-Hoo like on TV. The kids have never managed to camp out the whole night in our yard because of those scary owls.

barred owl

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

So cool!

I'd give me left nut to have a morning commute like that.

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'07 Yukon 2500
'13 Subaru Outback 3.6R
'13 Orbea Carpe 9-speed

Currently Benzless
Formerly: 300TD, S600, E55, 560SEL

---= The forest breathes, listen.
-Native American elder

We have a pet talking Cockatoo. The Avery is next to the back gate to the yard. If you come home late & its dark, just as you go to open the gate she says at the top of her voice 'Hello Cocky!!!'. If your not expecting it, you get a great fright ~ pitch black and what sounds like some one saying hello. Gets the blood running!!

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

you have to watch out for these critters too. The snakes don't really worry me too much anymore. This photo was taken with the digital camera.

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Jim

Very cool. I was surprised when I learned that their digestive tract was not a one way route but a roundabout.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Well, right now I'm living in TX, my uncle and his wife still live in NC, 1300 miles between us, and frankly that suits me just fine!

EVERY time I'd walk out the road to visit them, the first words out of her mouth would be to ask me when I was going to get married and have kids, with an oblique hint that she had female relatives in the Philippines that would be glad to fill that requirement.

One day a couple years ago, I was sitting on the porch talking with my mother, and I made mention of this in passing to her.

Next day my mother caught my uncle's wife out in her front yard and gave her the cussing of a lifetime over it, telling her to keep her bloody nose out of other people's business.

Didn't faze her one whit. She'd still ask me when I was going to get married, but then add "don't tell your mother I asked you that".

__________________
Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

DO NOT WATCH this video if you have seen "The Fourth Kind" and it scared you...

Freaked me out a little lol. Those owls are pretty creepy...beautiful but creepy.

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Current cars:
2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles
2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles
1995 S320, 207k Miles

We have barred owls here on the farm too. It seems like there's a pair in every creek bottom. They do have a weird call, kind of a hoo-ah, hoo-ah thing.

Actually, around here barred owls are considered invasive. And, I believe that some Native American tribes consider them to be truly bad medicine.

Here's a barred owl, close up. Not taken at the farm, but at the Brevard Cty Zoo,

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.