The Birds I Didn't Get To Photograph

I didn't bring my camera home for the holidays. The camera I had access to was older, finicky. One morning, birding with my sister and father, we saw birds I'd love to have photographed, but couldn't.

iPhone photo of a Barred Owl we saw—my sister took it, I’ll repeat: with an iPhone. So, imagine how a DSLR or mirrorless camera would do at such proximity.

On a winter morning spent walking around a wildlife refuge with my sister and father, at the tail-end of December, we got quite close to a Barred Owl.

Barred Owls are listed as “uncommon” right now ar…