I like owls. They are interesting critters (granted, I find most critters interesting, which is part of the reason I live out amongst them). When I was about 13 or 14, my Dad and I were driving up a winding country road early one morning and encountered a Screech Owl (Megascops asio) sitting at the shoulder of the road. Curious, we stopped, and learned that the little guy was stunned; Dad reckoned it had bounced off a car's windshield. We took it home, put it in an old bird cage, and kept it for 24 hours until it looked like it had regained its wits; then we took it back to where we had found it and let it go, watching with satisfaction as it flew strongly away into the forest. While the little guy was our guest, I wanted to call him Owl Pacino, but Dad overruled me and named him Owl Hirschfeld.
Recently, though, in Durham, New York, visitors to an antique shop were surprised to note that what they thought was a knick-knack on a store shelf was in fact a screech owl - asleep, as they tend to be during the day.
Shoppers in upstate New York earlier this month turned up a rare find while perusing a local antique store this month: tucked next to a cookie jar made in the shape of a chicken was a live owl resting peacefully on a shelf.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation said Friday that the incident happened on Feb. 21 in the hamlet of East Durham, about 127 miles (204 kilometers) north of Manhattan.
The agency said customers at The Market Place had spotted “something extremely lifelike” on one of the shelves and alerted store staff.
Environmental conservation police officers arrived to find a brown-and-white owl perched on a shelf with its eyes firmly shut.
The department said officers gently cradled the sleeping owl to remove it from the store, and then released it into a wooded area, where it flew into a nearby tree.
Someone, of course, captured a photo of the little guy, and we can't blame folks for not immediately realizing that this was a real, breathing bird.
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) March 7, 2026
It was good to know that the little guy was safely released and will be owl-right.
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I like stories like this. Some people may not give a hoot about a lost owl finding his way home, and those people may wonder hoo cares. But I'm talon you, with all the stress-inducing news of the day, it's nice once in a while to see something that brings a smile. Granted, when it came to choosing napping spots, this particular owl was likely just winging it. He shows an uncanny adaptability, though, in being able to find a safe resting spot in an environment dominated by humans. That's always a good survival strategy.
We have, as I've mentioned, a Great Gray Owl living somewhere in our vicinity. I've seen it twice, both early in the morning, both just as a silhouette ghosting silently overhead. Screech Owls don't live this far north, but Great Horned Owls do, and we hear them from time to time.
I confess as well, when it comes to the natural world and the creatures that live in it, I'm a bit of a know-it-owl.
I'll show myself out.
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