beautiful winged things

i have grown to love owls and birds...in images, that is. i can't say i would want a live one around. i read a fascinating book about an owl who formed a lifelong (19 years!) bond with a scientist. an excerpt from a review:

"Owls permeate literature and mythology, an ancient animal ("some 97 million years" old) that has fascinated for centuries; still, few people have had as intimate an encounter with the mysterious night birds as biologist O'Brien. As a student researcher at Caltech, she fell in love with an injured four-day-old barn owl and seized the opportunity to adopt him permanently. She named him Wesley, and for 19 years kept, cared for and studied him, forging a tremendous relationship with the still-wild animal, as well as a vast understanding of his abilities, instincts and habits: "He was my teacher, my companion, my child, my playmate, my reminder of God." Her heartwarming story is buttressed by lessons on owl folklore, temperament ("playful and inquisitive"), skills, and the brain structure that gives them some amazing abilities, like spotting a mouse "under three feet of snow by homing in on just the heartbeat."


so i just wanted to share some photos of my favorite little winged "thrift store" companions.

(an ornament from my sister this past christmas)

an old avon bottle.