Sorry, I mistook your dress!

Ah hah! I have been informed by the stepmum of all things birdish and by a lovely person from the actual owl pages who (I hope) wasn't looking to hunt me down and smack me upside the head for the egregious crimes of not knowing my owlish pal's proper sort and stealing her pictures...pant, pant...that what we have is, in fact, an Eastern Screech Owl. My stepmum said something about Rufuss, but I don't know the owl's name and am not about to ask - I think he's shy. (Kidding, I know what she meant, please don't flood me with messages both correcting me and calling me a monumental dumbass!!!) I know how that is - I am always awkward around new folks, too.

So, here's a proper picture (once more robbed borrowed from http://www.owlpages.com/) of an Eastern Screech Owl:

And my giant red squirrel new friend:
What do you think? Are they one and the same? I believe so...the coloring is much closer.

Kudos to S (my stepmum) for making the effort over the phone, and it wasn't a video phone either. And for using my blurry, Bigfoot-like picture to narrow it down. Also to D from Owlpage.com for identifying him with the same crappy picture. They both need to join some of those Yeti-watching expeditions and save us from grainy photo hell! Or the alien groups. Either one could use the help!I am happy to know what kind of neighbors we have moving in here, and T is somewhat less thrilled at the idea of a permanent resident who makes screeching noises. Heh.

I still have no idea if it'll stay. I may have some better pictures of it if I ever figure out how to load the video camera contents onto the computer via cable gizmo, and then onto YouTube (where it will receive the fewest hits ever) and then link it to...whew, OK, I'm exhausted and am now going to rest, have some tea, and try to think of ways to talk our feathery delight back tomorrow.