This is the same look I’d get from my mother when she caught me in the cookie jar as a little kid. I still remember that look.
For me at least Burrowing Owls have been alarmingly scarce so far this year. I keep thinking I’ll see them in places where they’ve been relatively common in the past but I just don’t and that concerns me. So they’ve been on my mind as of late, thus today’s post – an image taken almost exactly one year ago today on Antelope Island.
1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
It was cloudy when I took the photo and it shows but I still like it. I think the soft, filtered light helps to bring out the textures and colors of the setting, particularly the subtle purples of the tiny redstem filaree in the grasses below the bird. I also like the framing of the owl between the sharp, tall grasses at left and the soft, out of focus ones to the right. This little owl was obviously suspicious of me and it shows in the look “he’s” giving me – some folks appropriately call that look “stink-eye”.
My cookie jar reference in the intro to my post is genuine. When I was about 5 years old I surreptitiously invaded our ceramic cookie jar (fashioned after a fat monk with his hands clasped across his ample belly) on the back of the kitchen counter for the Oreo’s it always contained. Doing so was a major crime in our house and getting caught was truly terrifying (my mother famously had a rubber spatula that she occasionally used for purposes other than cooking…). To get to it I had to pull out the kitchen drawers below the jar and use them as a ladder to get up there and because the jar was ceramic replacing the lid was a delicate operation because it made so much noise. My mom was definitely tuned in to that distinct sound but she was in one of the bedrooms so I thought it was perfect timing for my carefully planned cookie thief operation.
But as careful as I tried to be she heard me replace the lid and hollered out from the bedroom “Ronnie, get out of that cookie jar!”. In a panic I jumped down backwards off the counter and caught my chin on the counter going down with my tongue sticking out. My upper front teeth sliced deeply into the top of my tongue and I bled like a stuck pig for what seemed like an eternity. One of my distinct visual memories is blood on the floor mixed in with broken Oreos. Even my mom, a nurse, was in a bit of a panic. I remember my tongue being so swollen and painful I could hardly eat for days.
To this day I still have a small flap on the top of my tongue from that incident.
So yes, my reactions to “the look” and to the cookie jar memory are visceral to this day, 66 years down the long and winding road.
Ron
PS – Apologies for rambling on like I have but that cookie jar memory came so strongly to mind while I was composing this post I had to include it.
PSS – As an afterthought I decided to add this photo of my mom, taken (I believe) on her graduation from nursing school during WWII in Calgary, Alberta.
I always enjoy your “ramblings” . It’s nice to see the personality behind the photos .
Love the setting this owl is shown in!!! Delicately beautiful….
Super shot, great positron!
Charlotte
I’m glad you like it, Charlotte. Thanks.
Ramble on. So enjoy hearing your stories of growing up. Love the owl and it’s keep away from me and mine look.
Thank you, Muspic.
That was a great story Ron. Had me laughing! Were you the second child? Seems all the second children have a bit of a devil in them. This is just my observation. My second son sounds like you. Tried every trick in the book. Thought he could get away with it but I always caught him in the act lol.
I love that look on the Burrowing Owl. I truly hope you find more of them.
Thanks, Debbie. I was the oldest of 3 kids. I had two younger sisters.
Love the photographs! Both of them. And I really enjoyed your ramble about the cookie jar! thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you, Joanne.
Visited link…you look like your mom, dad and grandpa (thought he was you) all rolled into one…except they all look reasonably sane….and proably wouldn’t ruthessly cull or nit pick like someone else I can think of….
I’m reasonably sane too, Patty – but “reasonably” gives me a lot of wiggle room… 🙂
Ron, I have only found 1 Burrowing Owl so far this year, and I’m pretty sure he’s a non-migrating resident. Last year at this time I had located at least 12. Hopefully they are OK and just late showing up this spring.
That’s depressing, Mark. I has hoping it was just me and others have been finding them in reasonable numbers.
Never, ever apologise for ‘rambling’. Love the Burrowing Owl and hope you see them again soon.
And the photo of your mother is a stunner – and I can well see that she was capable of ‘the look’. That is a very direct gaze.
That look went right through me, EC. When I got it I knew I was in trouble…
Oh yes. And quietly saying your name (often my full name) could make me tremble in my boots.
That stink eye mom thing is pretty scary, isn’t it? Just love burrowing owls. There was a report that burrowing owls were nesting in one of the fields I hunted with Jack. Never saw hide nor feather of nesting burrowing owls, so not sure what that means.
Just FYI, I still can’t follow your posts. I don’t get that option.
Laura, Have you tried EC’s suggestion to solve your problem?
This little Burrowing Owl definitely has the “mom” look down cold. I love hearing about memories like yours of the cookie jar raid. And that you included a photo of your mom. I like the Owl shot for the same reasons you do.
“I love hearing about memories like yours of the cookie jar raid”.
Good. Sometimes I think I might go a little too far with that personal stuff so your comment means a lot, Susan. Thanks.
Your mom was quite the looker! I know that “momdar” well — my mom ALWAYS knew when I was up to no good! We had two cookie jars — one had colorful cookies around the sides and a walnut on top and the other was a Humpty Dumpty. I still have the latter. We generally only used the jars for homemade cookies, so they were extra special (as in not used very often!). I have a thing for the mint Oreos, and will on the odd occasion treat myself to a package. It’s funny that you mention college Oreos, though. The bagged lunches from my dorm always included a package of 6 Oreos — I haven’t thought about that in years.
Love the owl’s stink-eye!
Marty, I have many “heirlooms” left over from when my folks lived with me, including lots of kitchen stuff, but that cookie jar somehow disappeared many years ago – broken or lost in one of their many moves is my guess but maybe my sister Sheila has it. I sure wish I still had it. Might even fill it with Oreos for old times sake.
Edit: And speaking of Oreos and Sheila. It just so happens that if you separate an Oreo into its halves you can take a tiny scoop out of the frosting and the depression left behind is a perfect receptacle for a few drops of Tobasco Sauce. When reassembled and eaten by your little sister it gets quite the reaction (I’d call it volatile). I don’t think Sheila will ever forgive me for that one and probably rightfully so…
You STINKER! 😀
Dxcept for the ferocious scowl, that owl photo is beautiful…love the delicate beauty (and name) of the redstem filaree, colors and daintiness of the grasses…Being concerned with thinning hair(probably due to meds and stress), the first thing I noticed about your mom was her gorgeous, thick hair…then how pretty she was. You look a lot like her…makes me wonder what your dad looked like…
DEXCEPT??? This evil iPad really hates me….
Patty, My dad can be seen here.
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2014/11/27/why-im-thankful-on-thanksgiving-and-always-for-my-nomadic-dudley-ancestors/
Your dad’s incredibly handsome too! Guess good looks run in the family! 🙂
Ron, that is a beautiful picture of your mother. Nice one of the owl too. Cookie jars bring back memories of days gone by. I think we had a large clear jar that would also hold doughnuts. Large opening on jar. Our cookies were hard, so not what us kids wanted to eat. I think our jar was put up high some times too.
Thanks, Trudy. Seeing that photo always brings back so many memories for me.
Could they just be later .. ?? My hummingbirds arrived a week later than last year and I have not seen a single kingbird yet .. good time to be talking about mother’s with moms day coming !!!
I suppose it’s possible but I don’t think so, Marina. Not this late.
Love your stories. My mother had various methods of getting ones attention and they all did the trick. The little owl is great and most welcome. I have seen them in person only once which is why I enjoy your blog. I get to see many things I don’t have the chance to see and learn much about them from your writings.
Thank you, Betty. Yes, mothers do have their ways…
My mom had that same spatula!!! Wonderful bird, lovely memory. Thanks, Ron!
“My mom had that same spatula!!!”
That made me smile, Diane. Perhaps it was almost universal with mothers.
I think she only used it on me a time or two in all those years. But the threat was very effective, although it didn’t keep me out of the cookie jar. After all, there were Oreos in there!
Very pretty bird Ron. Nice photo. Have not seen one in a long time. I laughed at dubious – a word I have not heard in ages. Wonder if millennials are even aware of the word? Folks in our age group certainly know what a dubious look is.
Everett Sanborn
Prescott AZ
“Wonder if millennials are even aware of the word?”
Hmmm, I’ve never considered that possibility, Everett. Perhaps you’re right…
I noticed less owls last year and so far this year very few in usual places. I hope they are out there, just away from roads and people.
Do you still like Oreos or did the incident ruin the joy?
Interesting (and alarming) that you’ve noticed the same thing, April.
Yes, I still like Oreos but when I was in college and could eat all of them I wanted I pigged out on them so often that my Oreo gluttony was significantly reduced. Now I’ve mostly moved on to other versions of chocolate…
Beautiful owl! He shows up well in the background. 🙂 “The look” is universal………;) Quite a price you paid for that adventure! No doubt your mother never forgot it either!
Judy, both of my folks lived with me for the last 5 years of their lives and that was one of the memories we often relived. So yes, she remembered it well.
But I’m sure it was more vivid in my mind than in hers. For many years I could rub that flap on my tongue over my front teeth and pull it up vertically so it was hard to forget about.
My mother had a heck of a time keeping things “out of reach” – we always figured out a way to get there and with 6 to keep track of…………;)
Caught you! Probably “caught you again!” Thanks Ron for a morning laugh.
“Probably “caught you again!” ”
No question about that, Diana. In those days I’d pay almost any price for my Oreos! I even remember practicing replacing that lid without making any noise.
Eventually my mom (heartlessly) put the cookie jar on top of the fridge. Cruel lady!
Love the look! Both the ‘evil eye’ and especially the ‘3-D look’ of the near and far grasses. It is hard to forget old life-changing moments isn’t it…only takes a small trigger and they are real… 🙂
That’s right, Kathy. And the look I got from this owl was my trigger.