In what has been dubbed “one of the best photographs ever taken” an owl was immortalized flying through the sky with an unusual companion.
Eric Lind was at his parents’ home in Eureka, Illinois, when on October 19, 2022, he captured now-viral images of the owl. The images delighted the internet as the bird flew across the sky creating a silhouette that looks a bit like someone flying across the sky on a broomstick. lind said : “My mom got a call from one of the neighbors telling her to look out at our pine tree’s back yard. At first they had spotted her owl as she flew up the tree, but they couldn’t figure out what it was”.
“We quickly spotted the owl and immediately recognized it was carrying a stick with a toy horse’s head“. It’s not clear why the bird decided to befriend the inanimate object, but playing with objects is a behavior sometimes seen in other birds. There have been several reports of juvenile red-tailed hawks playing with inanimate objects such as rocks and sticks, chasing them, dropping them, and engaging in what is thought to be similar to the practice of hunting. Other viewers have also suggested that the owl may have been attracted to the stick because the head is similar in size and texture to a small rodent such as a rabbit, something that would be the perfect prey item for the great owl. Lind shared the video and pictures of her on Facebook where she received thousands of reactions and comments. Republished on the Internet, the unusual images went around the web.