Owl vs. 60-pound dog

Riverside is such an interesting place to live. It's urban, historic and you can have close encounters with wildlife. Possums, millions of tiny lizards, raccoons, doves, your neighbor's strange yellow lab...

Seriously, though, my dog and I recently had a couple of brushes with a large owl. A couple of weeks ago we were walking at night around the corner of Barrs and Park streets by the foot center when one came swooping down over us and then up into a tree. Let's just say that if my dog had been challenged to a duel, she would have run away, dragging me behind, holding onto the leash for dear life. Then, just a few nights ago, we were walking around the same corner when we heard a very loud, unpleasant-sounding screech. It was so striking that we both stopped in our tracks and looked around for awhile. We didn't see anything. I thought maybe it was a screech owl, but a little Google action helped me determine it was a barn owl. (Turns out, screech owls don't really screech the way barn owls do.) I'm assuming it was the same owl we had seen before.

Listen to the "typical call" here:

http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Tyto&species=alba

Apparently, they don't make noise that often like some types of owls do, so maybe it was rare that it screamed just as we walked by.

(Oh, and just for the record, I always use a bag to pick up my dog's business.)