For the Love of an Owl

At the moment, I am going through a process of grieving. But I know I am not alone in this grief, it is a collective grief that is also tinged with great joy. I know that this sounds strange, but it is the most profoundly complex experience I have ever been through in my whole life.

Three months ago, I stumbled across a Ustream site of the owl box of Molly the Owl in San Marcos, California. This particular owl box was being recorded by the Royals: Carlos and Donna, with the technical help of grandson Austin. It was a drab, wet, autumn Saturday morning when I stumbled across it. And I was immediately transfixed. Here was this majestic mother barn owl, tending to (at that stage) three tiny little pink scrawny owlets, with two more eggs to go. I watched as she would settle herself over the owlets, and gently, with those mighty talons of hers, turn the eggs.

And just before Easter, I got to witness the hatching of the final owlet, Wesley. Having started to make friends in the owl box community, we were cheering for little Wesley to make her entrance into the world. It was the first hatching I have ever witnessed of any type of bird and I know that as Molly gently helped Wesley out of the egg a collective cheer went up. And we watched as the owlets all grew extraordinarily fast, exchanging their tiny pinkness for downy fluff, learning how to feed themselves and eventually making steps towards the outside world.

The past two weeks we have seen Max, Austin, Pattison and Wesley all fly out of the box and start to make the transition into their adult lives. And it has been a joyous occasion...but also very hard. We celebrate the fact that they have been able to survive and thrive. One of the other boxes lost two owlets in the space of 24 hours. We celebrate that they are all beautiful and different and are adding to the owl population in the area. But we will miss watching them.

One of the things that blew me away about this experience was the sheer strength of love that was felt for these birds. They will never know that millions of people were there, cheering them on and loving them unconditionally. And that love also spread to the MOD (Molly Obsessive Disorder) community- many people met, many people became friends and we all became an extraordinary worldwide family. I know the sociologists at my university would have a field day with this phenomenon! When people were ill, we rallied around them. People lost pets and family members during this time and we were there to comfort them because we understood and we looked out for them. There was a bit of conflict, but you get that in any community. But just that sheer force of love...if a few thousand of us can generate that for six owls...imagine what the whole world could do for one another.

It is hard saying goodbye to the owls but they have our hearts with them and we are thrilled that they have grown up healthy and happy and ready to soar on the clouds.