City wildlife

For almost a month, I was seeing rabbits, almost daily.  Don't know where they came from, they were wild ones, first year I've ever seen them near work.  They each seemed to have a territory, I'd see them sitting alone, in patches of grass, munching on dandelions.  But they've been gone since around July 4th, perhaps trapped and released elsewhere, perhaps eaten by the eagles, hawks or owls that hang around.  I liked the rabbits.  I miss seeing them around.

In other wildlife news, went to U Village to look for tank tops or shorts or something, I seem to be lacking in clothing suitable for hot weather.  Was a bit of a disheartening endeavor, so decided to walk home through the ravine, for a bit of nature.  It wasn't dark out, still a while until sunset, but shaded in the ravine, and not as many joggers or dog-walkers around as I'd like, but I walked through anyway, hoping I'd run into more people.  A little more than half-way through, I heard a sound like sucking in through your front teeth (a bird sound...ah, the Audubon bird site has that as "immature begging calls", though what I heard wasn't as aggressive as that recording), and looked up to see two fuzzy owls on the branch overhanging the trail, just in front of me.  I stopped where I was to look at them, one dropped down to the ground about 20 feet further on.  Four women stopped on one of the higher trails to watch.  A woman jogger came up behind me and stopped, we could hear other birds answering.  The jogger pointed one out to me, and I saw a fourth, and possibly a nest with a fifth, but it was too dark, and too far away to know for sure.  I don't think they were fully grown, their heads seemed a bit fuzzy, though they had adult feather, and were perfectly capable of flying.  Pretty sure they were Barred Owls Strix varia who I've seen in the ravine in the past.

I haven't been back, been almost two weeks since I saw them.  Now have my foot in a boot, so no forest walking for me for a while.  Wildlife will have to come visit me until I can take the boot off.  (Raccoon, deer, and coyote have been seen around, so, not out of the question.)