!spoiler Ah? I didn’t catch that, I thought they divorced when the daughter was still alive given the parts about dating someone else? Where in the story did you catch that bit?

Ah man I’m so sorry about your owl friends :( you’re right though, it really is a great lesson in taking things as they are and living in the present. I wish you more happy owl encounters in the near future!

I think you explained it quite well. I just read the story and was a bit confused by the ending but this clarified it for me.

Major spoilers ahead! (struggling with the spoiler tag!)

!spoiler The story reads like she’s in the present and you assume her memories of her daughter are in the past. Then looking back at the language used, she’s describing memories of her daughter with language that indicates it’s in the future, not the past. So it stands to reason that the encounters with the heptapods are in the present and learning their language gives her the ability to ‘see’ the future I assume Gary is her daughter’s father. Just like she mentions of the readers of the Book of Ages, she won’t do anything to change the future even if she knows what’s coming, even if it means a future where her daughter dies young.

Yeah I count myself very lucky someone shared the location with me. There is another well documented sedentary Tawny with photos going back to 2010. Sadly when I went back last week it wasn’t there, and another photographer passing through told me it hadn’t been seen for almost a year. Last time I saw it was March or April last year, so I fear it may have passed away. I’m hoping that’s not the case, and if it’s still around and I can get some shots I’ll share them here.

I’m also on the lookout for Long Eared Owls but those are going to be much more challenging to find.

So I went digging around for some of the older photos I’ve seen of the same spot and they seem to date from 2012-2015. I can’t tell if it’s the same individual but maybe someone with a more discerning eye will fare better?

Here’s another photo I took the week prior on a cloudy day:

In any case, the spot is next to a path that gets quite a bit of foot traffic (joggers, people walking dogs, people strolling with kids) so it’s not exactly quiet, but it doesn’t seem to be bothered.

spent the day alternating between dozing and glaring at everyone.

Life goals, honestly

I don’t hate on the developers, I hate on the companies that so severely understaff and burn out their teams that no one is doing proper testing anymore.