For 2 years I filmed a couple of great horned owls and their offsprings in the Golden Gate Park. But most of all, it was a special connection and relationship I developed with the GGP owls that I have been missing and hoping for ever since I moved to Savannah, GA. Yes, I could hear both great horned owls and barred owls in Savannah, but that special bond was not there yet. Well, it all changed on June 23, 2020. On 177th day of my Savannah living a couple of Barred owls revealed themselves to me and accompanied me on my walk for a brief moment. That owl strategy or methodology feels very familiar to me. And yet that moment if awe is ever so strong and never diminishes. It just happened that on June 23rd before my walk I read Herman Hesse's poem "Sometimes", a perfect opening act of memorable encounter.

SOMETIMES
Sometimes when a bird calls
or a breeze rustles the branches
or a dog barks from a distant house
and I must fall silent and listen.

My soul returns to forgotten places
where a thousand years ago
the birds and the wind blowing
were more like my brothers.

My soul transforms into a tree,
into a creature, and a cloud passing by,
my soul returns to me with questions,
but I stay the same and find no answer.
-Herman Hesse (1917)