Owl Walk

What a magical evening I had last night! I went on an owl-spotting walk with the Greater Salt Lake Audubon Society in City Creek Canyon. I walk in the canyon almost every day, but it was so enchanting to walk it slowly, with about a dozen people, in the moonlight. The leader had a tape recorder with the calls of great horned owls, screech owls, Saw-Whet owls, and long-eared owls. We saw a golden eagle at the outset, two herds of elk (man, they are huge!), and various small birds. As it got darker the leader played the owl sounds and called a huge great horned owl to us. He sat in the top of a big spruce tree, silhouetted by the last remaining light in the western sky. It was awesome. Then the stars and planets began to pop out. We saw Jupiter, Venus, little Mercury, a really bright red Mars, Sirius, the Pliates Sisters, Orion...about 3.5 hours of walking and listening and chatting softly with some really nice people. Perfect end to a beautiful day.