Despite the rain had the absolute privilege of following a barn owl as it hunted along the riverside meadow this morning. These kind of encounters really keep me from tipping into despair at the state of the world. Go outside everyone, despite our fuckwittery the world is still a beautiful place 💚

5:50 am nw Illinois 1/20/2026 Thought I had missed my chance overnight, but caught these right before dawn. Was buoyant the rest of the day and evening!