Flamulated Owl

Matthew spotted a little owl, sitting in his strawberry patch. It turned out to be a flammulated owl. It's about 6 inches long, and is North America's only migrating owl, nesting in norther Idaho and southwestern Canada, and flying south for the winter. The flamulations are flame-like orange markings around its eyes and along its wings. It's fairly common, but small, shy and difficult to spot. This one was having problems, and couldn't fly. I suspect the cats. Jann took some pictures. Matthew also helped us correctly identify it by pointing out that flammulated owls are the only owls with deep dark eyes. Apparently, they have cool voices, but we didn't hear it call. It snapped at people and clicked its beak.