by Kurt Zuelsdorf

Somewhere in the dark shadows of the crooked branches of my live oak, a sound carries over my lawn. The first screech penetrates my bedroom window, left open just a smidge to hear the rain. I open my eyes. I walk furtively toward the front door only to find someone with a flashlight in my yard! Unusual as it is, I watch patiently with the phone ready to dial 911. This uneasy feeling at 2 am is never good, don’t you agree? Well, it is the neighbor lady donned in a night gown, slippers and a nightcap shining my trees!  She had been passing by on a dog walk and heard the same screech. Thinking a stray cat may have caught a squirrel or a rodent, she had been concerned.  Just then, from behind us and right between us a winged creature swoops and grabs a gecko lizard from the porch rail! We catch the bird in the flashlight beam on a big branch just in time to see an adult screech owl feed the unlucky lizard to it’s young! The young owl is no bigger than my hand and reminds me of my feeble grandpa with his big brown eyes and thin grey hair standing on end. He gobbles and gurgles the gecko down and continues screaming for more.  The adult makes frequent trips to the ground, snatching lovely cockroaches and bugs from the mulch…ahhh yes…dinner time at the Z’s and a fine example of nature’s solutions for yard critters!