Calm in the Midst of Chaos

The North Woods are a great place for a good night's sleep: cool, breezy, and very quiet. The challenge during the summer months, however, are the short nights: it is not unusual to be able to walk outside after 11pm without stumbling over something, and the sunrise start around 5am. So while the nights are quiet and comfortable, they end too soon.

Just before sunrise, we were awakened by a cacophony of ravens. We had seen more ravens during this particular summer because one of our neighbors was running a deer feeding station back on the island. But this particular morning reminded me of the classic Hitchcock movie, "The Birds." The ravens were everywhere and each one of them was calling out frantically as they swooped and dove across the sky.

We pulled open the shades to look around and, at first, did not notice the object of their attention. But soon we tracked their motion and found the source of their anxiety: a large Great Horned Owl that had decided to stop hunting for young ravens and rest atop a dead tree trunk at the back of our property.

What a bird! We had heard the owl a couple of nights before as it hunted for its very annoying youngster, which continued to screech for food while its parent flapped around looking for a nice vole or bird or snake. But now, the owl was simply resting atop the tree trunk, seemingly unfazed by he dozens of ravens swooping around him. The only movement was an occasional flick of its head when a raven flew too close. I thought I heard the owl say softly, "You know that I could reach out, grab you, and devour you if I wished. But right now I am not hungry, and you don't impress me enough to bother with you."

Eventually the owl decided to fly back onto the top of the island, flexed its wings, and gracefully and casually flew from his perch, ignoring the pestering ravens, who eventually tired of the whole business and flew back to their own nests.

We both learned something from that owl: be confident in your own abilities, know that mere noise is not going to distract you from your goals, and keep calm in the face of attacks. It worked for the owl, and we are trying to make this lesson work for us.