This owl is living dangerously in a high traffic area. Hope it makes it through the winter. On Saturday while photographing it from a sidewalk along with several others, the owl suddenly leapt off its perch and headed straight for me. The owl landed with a thud onto a foot high ice encrusted snowbank about 7 feet next to me. Maybe it heard a rodent scurrying underneath. With nothing to show for its effort, the owl flew back to its perch. Apparently I missed the great Snowy Owl shoot with 45 photographers and 4 Snowy Owls :-)