• The sun was setting, and a man went to check on his free-range chickens to make sure they were all in the shed for the night. He was surprised to see many of them still clucking and scratching around outside and feared that a racoon might have got into the shed as had happened once before. Much to his astonishment, what he found inside the shed on top of his wife’s favourite chicken, Sandra, was a beautiful Barred Owl. The owl was caught in the metal racking and was unable to untangle its feathers and fly off with its prey. 

The man called his wife and eldest son and gently set about the task of extricating the bird. The owl remained calm, kept staring into his saviour’s eyes and seemed to sense that he was in no danger. He allowed himself to be stroked and talked to by each member of the family and posed for a photo. Even after the owl was freed from the racking, it remained unruffled and afforded the family some precious moments that will remain with them for ever. The wife/mother allowed it to leave with the chicken since she felt that it had worked hard for his dinner. 

• A woman finally decided it was time to take down the Christmas wreath that had been hanging, since the end of November, outside her front door. It had been intricately woven together and she had to use clippers to remove the pieces of fir from the metal frame. As she was doing this, she was surprised to find many peanuts hidden away in the branches. Seemingly, a bird had thought this an excellent hiding spot for his cache of nuts. 

• A couple, out for a walk in the vicinity of the Marina, while there was still some ice on the lake, were looking at all the birds both on the small shelves of ice and in the water. In amongst the Mergansers and Seagulls was a lone Canadian Goose, towering over the smaller birds. Suddenly, the ice broke and the goose was unceremoniously dumped into the frigid water. He shook his head and swam off to join his mates.