since we seem to be on an animal streak (see the grasshopper and the chameleon), here’s another one that paulo spotted in our backyard last week:

you can barely see it in this crappy super-zoomed-in photo from my phone, but that silhouette is so different from any other bird out there that it really stands out. while we were squinting at it, friends with good lenses arrived and took these amazing photos instead:

what a beauty it is, even as it bestows its disapproving frown at our antics! :D the little owl (mocho galego, in portuguese) is a nocturnal owl that is usually found in farm or woodlands in the south of europe. it nests in holes, where the female takes care of the baby owls, while the male protects the territory and hunts for insects, worms and small vertebrate like mice.

we’ve seen it a couple of times since, hanging around our backyard, doing its surveillance and hunting gig, and it’s always exciting to spot it in the distance. such cool neighbors we have!