The Owl and the Eagle

“Baby eagles can never soar under their family’s wing.”
~ Liu Yang

I woke yesterday morning to find a Powerful Owl sitting on the clothesline in the last shreds of darkness, feasting on something caught between its powerful talons. The owl paid me scant regard and finished his supper before flying up into the branches of the teak tree, where he has slept all day, in view of my writing desk.

I like that I can feel his presence. I like that he watches me. Our farm is home to many owls, and for me their arrival in so noticeable a way always signals that something is about to happen. Owls have a strong energetic connection to my maternal line, and to my psychic abilities. I spent most of the day wondering what I might be in for next – if perhaps Alice might pay me a visit, or the Orchard Man.

Late yesterday afternoon Ben and I drove down onto the river flats to check the fences and to discuss planting a summer forage crop. Bert and Harry came along for the ride, but for once seemed quite happy to stay in the back of the ute, where usually they would leap out and head straight for the river.

Ben and I walked the flats, our eyes at our feet, looking at the clovers and improved pastures and contemplating whether we’d have a wet or a dry summer. Still the dogs stayed in the back of the ute, mesmerised by something. They both craned their necks, so we did too, and there was one of our breeding pair of Wedgetail eagles, soaring on the thermals just above our heads. He’s huge, this eagle, and his wife isn’t much smaller.

He landed in a tree near us, watching. I felt like his eyes were right on me.

Mr and Mrs Eagle built a massive platform nest last year and had their first clutch of chicks on our farm. Two eaglets made it to adulthood, and one of them still flies over our orchard from time to time. The other youngster has headed off to find their own patch of territory.

The eagle kept watching us as we drove the rest of the paddock, coming to a stop near the nesting area.

His wife came out to see what we were doing, and then Mr Eagle swooped over us and home, some dinner between his claws. Their nest is so big that we could no longer see the birds, so we gave up and went down to the river for a swim before coming home to dinner.

As I sat in meditation last night a Barn Owl alighted in the Jacaranda. We exchanged glances as a a powerful swoosh-swooshing noise cut the air. The Powerful Owl sauntered past, flying between us just a few feet off the ground. He came to rest back on the clothesline again. Shivers ran down my spine and my arms came out in involuntary goosebumps, although the evening was mild.

I went to bed with that weird sensation of something about to happen.

And then my dreams were filled with all manner of craziness, culminating in me waking during a furious storm. I took myself outside to the back verandah where I could sit in the darkness and watch the rain and the blinking fairy lights in the poinciana tree.

So I was awake when the Orchard Man came.

But that’s a story for tomorrow…