Throughout my life of hiking and trail running, I have only caught fleeting glimpses of owls in the darkness of the early morning or at night. At least until one month ago.
On July 4th I was going for a walk with Levi and Cameron Forras near Spring Lake (near Renton) when we heard an indescribably noise coming from the woods to our right. I joked that it was "bigfoot". A few seconds later we heard it again, but this time it was on our left. Moments later I looked up and saw a Great Horned own perched in a tree on our left. Then, looking to our right we spotted another one. Behind us was a third owl. I told them to watch their heads since owls have been known to attack. One of the owls swept out of the tree showing how "big" they really are. We gingerly walked through them and made our way to the top of a hill. On the way back down we spotted one of the owls once more. When we told our guests who live at Spring Lake, they said they had never seen owls there before. We went back to try to spot them again but they were gone.
Today while running at St. Edwards Park I spotted a Barred Owl perched right next to the trail about 10 feet up in a tree. As I approached him it was clear that he didn't want to move. I had no way of going around so I watched him for about 5 minutes. Eventually a hiker approached from the other direction. As he came close the owl flew straight at me. I instinctively shielded my head as he swept past me.
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