The Mysterious Visitor

It started in December;  I would awaken in the night and hear a rhythmic breathy sound very near.  When I first heard it, I though Michael was breathing rather loudly.  Then, abruptly, it would stop--and restart a few minutes later.  No, it wasn't Michael.  Nor was it Sam, sleeping on the edge of our bed after a bad dream.  No one stopped and started breathing like that.  Snakes maybe?  Fighting a courtship or territorial dance right outside our window?  Maybe--but they wouldn't do it every night, all through the night.  No, not snakes.  Michael noticed bird activity in our roof, but I couldn't imagine birds making that almost human, breathing sound.

We puzzled over it for weeks, hearing it nightly.  Uncannily, the sound seemed to be right in the room with us, sometimes haunting, always taunting:  where did it come from?  Finally someone sighted an owl.  I didn't know owls lived here, but sure enough, Natasha's African bird book told about barn owls in West Africa that were known to hiss and snap. A week later Michael pointed out our specimen:  a 15-inch light brown owl,white faced and fronted, with huge eyes, alight on the internet tower beside our bedroom window.  Of course, it saw us, and began snapping and hissing territorially.  The unmistakeable hiss.  Creature confirmed.

An example of our nightly guest

The tower beside our bedroom window

Apparently our owl had been causing a commotion among the other birds in our developing  under-roof aviary.  Perhaps he was the cause for the mysterious lack of noisy toads around our place, even following a heavy rain.  (At Natasha's place, the toads were loud enough to awaken the entire family!)  Maybe he was feasting on the many and unwelcome mice and rats in the area--we had seen none recently.  Soon the hissing became a rather friendly "just checking in" sound we heard nightly.  And smiled.

But now he is gone.  No more hissing, snapping or roofline rustle.  Off he has moved to happier hunting grounds or quieter accommodations; who knows?  As mysteriously as he came, he has departed.  Bonjour, mon ami. We will miss you.