Say Hello to my Little Friend(s)!

Monday morning, at 5:30am, I woke up to what I thought was something crawling in our gutter outside our bedroom window.  I peeked out one and didn't see anything.  Then the other and something was stuck to our window screen.  I was a little freaked out until it turned its head and I saw that it was a baby owl!  An owlet!  My first thought was, "They better not be after my bunnies!" because he was in the side yard which has a small deck under which the rabbits have made their home.  

I went outside to check and didn't see it or any dead rabbits so I figured it got loose and flew off.  So I went back in and tried to go back to sleep but kept hearing a weird noise.  Almost like a garbled purr.  I looked out the window again and saw a rabbit.  So I went back outside thinking WTH?!  Rabbits don't make that noise...at least I didn't think so.  When I opened the gate to the side yard, the rabbit was gone but behind the gate against the house was this little guy!  I guess the rabbit was checking on him too.

I wanted to pet him so bad!  But took a pic instead.  I thought about contacting a wildlife rescue group but luckily his mom showed up.  She was up high in a tree on the other side of the fence.  I hoped she could coax him to fly up and over...which she eventually did.  About an hour or so later I heard him in someones yard a few houses down so I hope he finally got the hang of the flying / landing in the tree thing.  Too many bobcats, outdoor cats and coyotes for him to be safe on the ground for too long.

And here is Henry's tormentor.  Little Man thought it was a rabbit that he had named "Scamper" but with all the procreating going on under the deck in our side yard, it could be any number of bunnies that visit our backyard.  This is one cool customer though.  He casually hops around our back patio while Henry bounces off the sliding door..Kill the rabbit! Kill the rabbit!  The rabbit just looks at him with indifference and continues to eat grass. :D

So cute!

On a side note:  I did fish a different (and dead) rabbit out of the pool the morning I found the owlet.  Wonder if the owls chased it and it fell in or just wasn't paying attention to where it was hopping?  :(  Need to find something to leave dipped into the pool for them to use as a ramp to get out.