There are some animals one has never seen, and some one has never seen other than in a zoo or other form of captivity. The second type one is impressed with just because they're striking and gorgeous. But you're REALLY struck with them when you see them in the wild, in their natural habitat.
I had never before seen an owl outside of a zoo or bird sanctuary until this past holiday break. We were driving down highway 416 from Ottawa, and there was a HYEWGGG great horned owl sitting in a tree beside the highway. Given its size, you had the impression it was waiting for a Smartcar or little Fiat to come along; something it could grab in its talons and fly away with. I'm just sorry we couldn't stop and appreciate it in a little more detail and in a more leisurely way.
There's a big mother of a hawk that occasionally circles downtown Gatineau and Ottawa, between the War Museum and the government ghetto, likely looking rats, mice, or voles, dislodged from the various construction rojects in the area. When it shows up, it's hard to take your eyes off it. The wingspan has to be at least 4-5ft from tip to tip. Biggest damn thing in the sky in that area (except for the Snowbirds on Canada Day), and it just soars and soars and soars, barely moving its wings, except to maybe adjust direction a bit. Pity it's too damn far away to take a photo.
